


Unhinged

by Mirotic



Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ, JYJ (Band)
Genre: Angst, Blood and Violence, M/M, Mates, Romance, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:33:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 50,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24956152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mirotic/pseuds/Mirotic
Summary: Jaejoong appears to be far too pretty, and seems too gentle for the reputation that follows him. The alpha is a strange one that collects broken souls and pieces them back together much to the dismay of the other packs sharing the lands of Korea with him.Just when they think his need to bring home each stray he finds has finally passed... Jaejoong discovers the most dangerous, broken soul he has ever stumbled across.Yunho is a diamond in the rough and Jaejoong is enchanted, but this diamond bites and demands the alpha’s heart in exchange for good behavior.
Relationships: Jung Yunho (DBSK)/Kim Jaejoong, Kim Junsu (JYJ)/Shim Changmin
Kudos: 11





	1. Character Profiles

[Kim Jaejoong](https://i.imgur.com/fprESdh.jpg)

25

  * Alpha of Cassiopeia
  * Youngest child in his family, only male
  * Tattooist / Artist
  * Works as an executioner for the Elder Council
  * [Jaejoong's Wolf](https://i.imgur.com/vJ2PccE.jpg)



[Jung Yunho](https://i.imgur.com/5zMK8L1.png)

19

  * Dominant personality
  * Lone wolf following the attack on his family
  * Suffers a bit from PTSD
  * [Yunho's Wolf](https://i.imgur.com/wcULOHw.jpg)



[Shim Changmin](https://i.imgur.com/0OU9XBL.jpg)

23

  * Registered Nurse
  * He was a human turned by Jaejoong, first member of Jaejoong's pack
  * Junsu's Mate
  * [Changmin's Wolf](https://i.imgur.com/ZUVGAHL.jpg)



[Kim Junsu](https://i.imgur.com/HwJaWIT.jpg)

24

  * Barista, manages Cafe J-holic
  * Changmin's Mate
  * [Junsu's Wolf](https://i.imgur.com/npEquL8.jpg)



Other Members of Cassiopeia:

Jang Dongwoo (Infinite)

25

  * Works at J-holic



Nam Woohyun (Infinite)

24

  * Bartender



OK Taecyeon (2PM)

27

  * RN in the same hospital Changmin works at
  * Engaged to Somin (KARD, a human woman aware of the wolves)



The Elder Council

A collection of well established alphas that rule over the packs of South Korea and Japan.

They tend to be called in for extreme territory issues, instances of alphas being abusive, problematic lone wolves etc.

They are the ones who order the extermination of other wolves, typically.

The elder council keeps a wach over the hunters to protect the other wolves.

Members of the Elder Council include;

Hyde

Shiina (as Jaejoong's eldest sister)

Miryo (Brown Eyed Girls)

Kim Heechul

The members of Jaejoong's family:

Shiina

35

  * Has a mate named Tomoko (Brilliant Green, 42)
  * She was adopted by the Kim's as a child



Sunmi

32

  * Has a daughter, 5, named Jiyool
  * Has a mate and husband named Matthew (KARD, 31)



Soyeon (G-Idle)

29

  * Graphic Designer



Soojin (G-Idle)

27

  * Model



The Kim Family owns a media company where most of Jaejoong's siblings work.

FAQ:

**What kind of werewolves are these?**

I considered writing Harry Potter type werewolves, gruesome monsters that are cursed, violent and forced to turn under the full moon, but I don't think those work in a setting or a story with many of them.

So I've opted for wolves, just proper looking wolves that you'll see in google. They're pretty, I'm writing about pretty people, so pretty wolves work.

They are practically immortal, and age very slowly physically.

**Are they forced to turn under the full moon?**

No, they are not. The lunar rays help the wolves recharge/heal up so most wolves tend to go out and frolic under the full moon.

Wolves can turn as they please, though young wolves and wolves that have been turned rather than being born of wolf parents cannot control it as well.

**Does a bite make a werewolf?**

No, it is a bit more complicated than that and is not something to be done lightly.

A new wolf is a huge responsibility and kind of like typical vampire fiction to make a wolf they have to be on the very brink of death.

**Alpha/Omega Verse?**

No, not for this. There are dominant and submissive personalities, but save for an alpha/pack leader the hireachy within a group is not pre-determined by 'ranks' of alpha/beta/omega.

**How do mates work?**

Wolves in this story typically mate for life. If a mate dies most wolves remain solitary, mates together for a long time do not often last long without each other.

Mating isn't just sex and what not, it does involve biting and a nasty scar though.

**Where is Yoochun?**

Not here, for my own reasons I do not include him in my writing.


	2. Foreword

I write, not well, but I do.

I've been working on this story on and off for a little bit and thought I might give a go at posting it somewhere where someone other than my best friend and myself might read it. This might be a mistake, and so I am potentially sorry.

Onto the bit you probably care about, what is this?

This is a fantasy/supernatural werewolf story. Why? Because I wanted to write YunJae as puppies... I don't have a solid universe set up by anyone that I am being inspired by, I've just kind of stolen/borrowed bits and pieces of things and melded them together so bare with me, the inconsistencies might be real. Before I post the first part I am going to post some rough character profiles and a little bit of a FAQ (they're not frequently asked anywhere except in my mind, though) that I hope will kind of solidify the way things are supposed to go in my head.

This writing is less about solidifying the way this lore all works in my head and more about Yunho, Jaejoong and how they come together some a glimpse into what it means to be a part of Jaejoong's family and all.

I don't know how formatting works here but I'll post like your... standard fan fiction information set up here too;

Title: _Unhinged_

Rating: PG-13 - R (maybe NC-17 at some point?)

Pairing(s): Yunho/Jaejoong, Changmin/Junsu

Genre(s): Romance, Angst, Violence, Fantasy, Werewolves?

Warnings: There will be mentioned character death of side characters, violent outbursts etc. None of them are so bad so far to require a proper tag, but if it gets there I will add one.

I've had this account for ages but have never posted here so hopefully I am not doing this wrong.


	3. One

There was ringing in his ear, the left specifically. It was a sharp, piercing whistle that pulsed like a heartbeat and caused his steps to falter clumsily. His breathing was ragged, senses choked by the scent of earth dampened with blood, it clung to him all over, matted up in dark fur.

He hated it, hated that he couldn’t get it off, couldn’t get away.

The lunar rays cascaded through the tree tops  above, providing silver trickles of light to guide him. Guide him where?

Yunho through his head back and cried out. It was a loud, wavering howl full of broken anguish and anger, one that died off just as suddenly as it had started. His ears perked up, searching for the answer of his call, but it never came. A pitiful whine bubbled up from his throat when reality rained down over him.

They would never answer him again. 

_ Gone _ .

It was the only clear thought he could scrape together.

_ Gone. _

They were gone, and  Yunho was alone.

\------

“...Batteries,” the blonde uttered suddenly, brow slightly furrowed, his feet were bare as he walked across the soft carpet runner that lines the hall way.

His sudden thought hadn’t gone unnoticed, it just wasn’t understood. Bright eyes followed him, framed by soft tufts of pale blue fringe as the man flanked his side as they made their way to the door.

Only when it became  apparent he wouldn’t explain himself did the other press, “batteries? Do you need them?”

“Ah, no. I was thinking we’re a lot like a battery, aren’t we?” the dull expression on  Junsu’s face told him he didn’t follow, “We run  amock day to day until we’re tired, and then we let our wolves out to recharge under the moon.”

Just like a cell phone, of which  Jaejoong had three. 

Junsu didn’t seem to gasp onto his logic so well, his stare remained somewhat dazed as his hand reached for the door handle. Perhaps if he sat and thought about it... but suddenly... where had that came from? He, however, would not be the one poking  holes full of alpha’s logic, not today.

“Are you going to let your wolf out today,  umma ?”  Junsu queried with a cheerful grin, “ Changmin has already got a head start, you know.”

There was no waiting for an answer.  Junsu sprinted forward, feet propelling him through the door way and across the porch. He leapt across the stairs and before his feet could hit the  ground he had changed to let his wolf out.

Junsu was beautiful,  Jaejoong always told him so, perhaps the fluffiest wolf he had ever laid eyes on. The wolf turned back to  him, soulful brown eyes boring into his own before being almost shyly averted- a question- was he coming along?

The alpha stepped through the threshold of the door, careful steps carrying him across the porch and down the stairs until he felt cool grass under his feet. The full moon shone brightly, almost brighter than the sun as the blonde turned his gaze to it, slowly raising a hand to block some of the light the was cast over everything. Perhaps it wasn’t so bright, perhaps the obvious part was that they were sensitive to the moonlight that recharged them so well.

Jaejoong could feel his wolf preening beyond the surface, but it made no move against him.

Something buzzed in his back pocket and his hands were on the phone immediately, entire form twisting so his feet could carry him back inside, “You and  Changmin behave  yourselves, there has been enough trouble these past few days.”

It was an order, wrapped up neatly in soft tones that had distraction wetting the edges, but it was an order all the same.

Jaejoong shielded the screen of the phone with one hand as he unlocked it, the door behind him left ajar, completely forgotten as his eyes scanned over the text with images attached.

_ They found another body. Still warm when a couple of kids stumbled over it. _

A man, well built, tall, or he had been once; when his arms and  legss hadn’t been savagely ripped apart at the joints, when his throat hadn’t been opened up like an exotic red and pink flower or perhaps If his eyes had not looked as though they had been clawed right out of his skull. It had been a very, very long time since  Jaejoong had seen such blood lust, he wet his lips with his tongue and dragged his fingers across the screen to get a better look.

It was the third body within the past week, far too close to the city’s edge. The humans were beginning to panic. 

White flashed across the screen and the phone chimed, interrupting his view with a message that demanded he open it.

_ I expect you to deal with this, immediately. _


	4. Two

Contrary to all of the whispers that brushed behind his back,  Jaejoong didn’t enjoy this part at all.

Someone was out there ripping humans to pieces, leaving a mess and causing an uproar in the frail human society they needed to blend into. The humans that had been left in pieces were hardly innocent, hunters once a better look had been had at them, but that didn’t meant society knew that. Something was out there killing strong, capable men and if they were not safe then nobody was.

He already knew what the something was, just not who it was. Another wolf, it could be nothing else and it made all too much sense.

A little over a week ago he had gotten word from the elder’s council that a wolf pack had been attacked and eliminated by hunters. There were not many packs in  Jaejoong’s neck of the woods, city life was not kind to wild animals and they needed space. 

The blonde alpha had set up shop strategically, the wooded lands on the city outskirts had been the perfect place to erect a house, they had land and trees and there was a lake, the house was large although his ‘children’ had mostly left the nest unless they needed him... It was untraditional enough that it made others prickle nervously.

Freakshow was what he heard them call it when they thought he couldn’t hear, or when the elders were near enough so he could do nothing but smile. What kind of pack didn’t live together? What kind of wolves were so desperate to blend in with humans? What kind of  _ alpha _ let their wolves run free like that? One that had no control over his pack, they said.

On the contrary though,  Jaejoong had never had a problem. He had a delicate face and a lithe form, several of his wolves towered over him effortlessly and yet none of them defied his word. When alpha said jump, they all jumped, whether he could see them or not. Never had one of his wolves gone rogue, attacked an innocent person or left a mess to be found by the fragile meat sacks.

It was because they knew of course, what he was like, what he did when the elders called upon him for things that dragged him out of the house for days or sometimes weeks at a time.

It was not easy for one wolf to kill another, or so they said. Their numbers were dwindling as it was, pushed to live out in the country side because the world was moving forward in an uncomfortable manner. No space, no forests... just a concrete jungle with nowhere to run, so they came together like the pack animals they were. Territorial disputes were solved with a fight at worst, and after it was time to roll over and merge together or lick wounds and move on. 

But, for Kim Jaejoong... 

Maybe it was because he had a penchant for the things that were broken, the wild ones, the ones that didn’t fit in. Maybe he was the strangest wolf of all that it didn’t reach in and tear at pieces of his soul when it was time to end one of ‘their’ own. If they were so broken, too wild or too lost for  Jaejoong to handle... they simply had no place in the world anymore so they had to go.

Business, that was all it was. A cold, harsh business- but business nonetheless.  Jaejoong was the last resort for wolves who had lost their way for some reason or another, and so the elders allowed him to handle matters as he saw fit. Perhaps it was all a little bit biased, Shiina, his  eldest sister, was one of them after all, but then she didn’t get a say when his name was involved. 

Shiina didn’t like the way they used  him, didn’t like that they made him kill though that choice was his and his alone. 

“So, what do we know about the pack that has been destroyed?” he was walking to himself, one arm bent across his chest, perching his elbow up as he idly fingered his lower lip.

Home was quiet that day,  Junsu was at work at Jaeholic, a lovely café with a god-awful name his precious ‘son’ refused to change, and  Changmin had been called into the hospital for a shift early that morning. The others didn’t reside there with them, but were probably busy with the same old schedules; university, work, sleeping before work... same old.

Jaejoong was glad for the silence though, it gave him space to think, gave his wolf room to breathe before he needed to lean too heavily upon him.

A large white board stood in front of him, pictures printed from police files that he was not supposed to have were taped up alongside a lot of notes he took and a few rough maps he’d sketched out of the area. Otherwise, the information was a lot of question marks.

The pack in question- he hardly knew anything. It was small, the elders had provided that information to him. A family; mother and father, a son, a daughter and her mate and their two small children. That bit of information  _ had _ made him wince. Those babies had been innocent.

But there had been a body missing once they had gotten there, not that he himself had been. Three males, two females, two children... but there hadn’t been seven bodies, only six.

One of the men was missing, whether it was a vengeful son or a grieving mate he did not know... He had to find him though, see how far gone he was... Too far, most likely.

Three bodies in less than a week? Too far gone, certainly.


	5. Three

The air felt sharp as it blew, like there were invisible blades cutting through him. How long had it been now? 

Yunho knew he was running on empty. He had nothing left to give. 

His limbs ached, something he couldn’t see was crushing his skull and some kind of demon had clawed its way inside of the cavity of his chest, making use of the now hollow space. How had it turned out that way? 

At home he had never felt satisfied, he had never felt warm or content surrounded by his family. His pack... it didn’t make him feel whole or alive the way it was supposed to. 

But surely that didn’t mean he hadn’t loved them, right? The demon gripped onto his ribcage, squeezing tight until it felt like something new inside of him shattered, it snatched away his breath and knocked his balance out from under him. 

A misplaced step sent Yunho stumbling, the tip of his shoe caught onto something and pulled just enough to throw him face first into the ground. Barely, he managed to keep his teeth from kissing a rock with the aid of his hands, they caught and skid over the ground painfully, grabbing hold of pieces of twig and stone for later. 

Where was he going? 

Automatically his feet had been leading him back, back to the lake house his family resided in. Had resided in. When he drew close the yellow ribbons blocking off the space had caused him to stop, he could easily walk right past them, but the black and white car perched outside... 

Whenever he closed his eyes he could see it, he could hear it. The blood, the hollow pop of a gun firing, the sound of his niece’s blood curdling scream for her parents. 

And then it was the warmth, blistering heat that painted his skin in memories. Yunho could hardly remember, how had he found them? How had he managed to track them down? 

But he had found them, one by one... and each scene had grown more grotesque. Revenge hadn’t been enough, it hadn’t. It was too fast the first time, too swift, too merciful. He needed them to hurt. They had to understand... 

And Yunho, he needed to know. 

Why? 

Why had they killed them? 

And why had they left him on the floor to bleed out? Why didn’t they just end him, too? 

His hands tightened into fists, but he didn’t push away from the ground, instead he curled one of his arms toward his face. 

Nobody was around, Yunho was all alone like he had always wanted... 

The sob that pulled from his throat was painful, and it did not make him feel better. 

\----- 

_“Does that mean you won’t be home to make dinner?”_ Changmin. 

Of course Changmin was concerned about food, it seemed to be the only thing he could count on the man to think about. Jaejoong glanced down at his phone briefly before jerking his eyes back to the road in front of him, so far it had been a quiet drive, deceptively peaceful. 

“ _Changmin_ _-ah! How can you say that? Umma is working, too._ ” 

Junsu was his favorite, at least at times like this anyway. 

“Just order in, Min, my treat,” Jaejoong offered, though he supposed there wasn’t much that beat home cooking in the end, especially not when it was easy enough to arrange a meal of just meat essentially, “I’ll feed you when I get home.” 

“ _Who knows when that could be,_ _aiya_ _. We’re going to starve to death._ ” 

“You’re a big, scary wolf, I’m sure you can fend for yourself for a little while,” they always did, whether he wasn’t home on time or just not up to it. 

However, he had gone ahead and done a lot of meal prep just the other day. Jaejoong hadn’t expected the elder council to reach out to him, once they had he had not had much choice in the matter. He was closest after all, about forty-five minutes out by car instead of having to spend hours on a train or plane to get there from the country side. 

Like it would have made a difference. The last time something had gone awry in the country they had called on him then too. Jaejoong had hauled a few of his children along with him for that one, though. There were far more wolves there, he hadn’t been willing to go alone. 

But this, this he could handle. He was only looking for _one_ at that point, though the wolf had gone on to take down a few hunters on his own... Jaejoong couldn’t say he felt particularly threatened. At that point, the wolf was probably half insane and half starved... who knew if he was injured or not. 

An easy fight, an unfair one too, not that he would have much faith in a healthy wolf either. Perhaps it was unreasonable arrogant on his part... but in his 25 years of life he had yet to run into a wolf, that wasn’t an elder, that had given him _too_ much trouble. 

Not that it had never happened of course, trouble that was, but in the time when he hadn’t been able to brute force his way through something, he had either been stubborn or clever enough to drag himself through. It didn’t matter if he ended up half dead, because he was still half alive. 

Besides, a little bit of trouble was fun wasn’t it? 

He could hear something beep, someone calling Changmin’s name and shuffling through the phone, “ _Umma, stay safe. If you need us for anything at all call immediately... please. I have to get back to work now.”_

The please was an afterthought, tacked on to change the tone of the statement and Jaejoong’s lips quirked upwards. It was always like that, wasn’t it? He wasn’t umma to Changmin unless the younger man was starving, concerned or absolutely angry with one of the others... Surprisingly, despite his love of food, it didn’t happen very often. Not from Changmin. 

He had never been hyung either, really. It felt weird calling alpha hyung, was what he had gathered from most of the others, and it felt wrong calling him appa. That had happened exactly once and even Jaejoong had felt a little bit grimy when it had. 

Wasn’t that part of it though? The reason they were a freakshow? The very male alpha allowed his pack to run about calling him mom. But, wasn’t it befitting? An affectionate term toward the person that had picked them all up from the dark they had been in. 

“So sentimental, I thought you were eagerly waiting for me to keel over to take my place?” 

_“No.”_

_“Umma!_ " The line had clicked dead between Changmin’s denial and Junsu’s protest, _“Min would never...”_

Jaejoong chuckled before he could stop himself, the road had gradually run its course, asphalt giving way to a worn-down dirt path, it was just like going home, “Breathe, Junsu. Did I sound angry? Did it sound like I have no intention to return home? Who would look after you lot?” 

He would never, could never leave them. 

“ _You... aren’t coming home_ _empty-handed,_ _are you?_ ” 

Oh, they knew him too well, didn’t they? 

“You put my name on that shop, don’t make _umma_ look bad by gossiping instead of working,” the blonde was scolding the phone lightly, but his hand was already moving, tapping at the red button on the screen before Junsu could get a word in edgewise. 

_Another?_ He could practically feel his wolf protest. 

Lamb wanted to play. 


	6. Four

Just over a week ago something tragic had happened there.

Jaejoong could sense it- could smell it still the second he had stepped out of his car. The door clicked shut with a nudge from his hand, thumping softly.

Everything was still, quiet. The trees barely whispered in the wind, leaves chittering silently as though afraid to call out. What might find them if they were too bold?

Or who?

Jaejoong moistened his lips with his tongue, he could practically taste it in the air. Blood, death, dread... Fear and... gunpowder.

There was a man, human, sat outside of the house sectioned off by crime tape. Static flickered on his radio as one of his superiors checked in on him.  _ Any movement _ ? No,  _ none _ .

Wrong, so wrong. The blonde considered stepping out from the among the trees, raising his hand and calling out a greeting. 

_ ‘Hello, here I am, where is my wolf at? Are you hiding him from me?’ _

A low growl rattled through his mind,  Jaejoong’s eyes shifted as though trying to follow the noise, and then he barked out a short laugh.  _ Too soon?  _ Lamb didn’t seem pleased with him.

Maybe he just didn’t like that  Jaejoong called him Lamb, but he always had.

“You’re  _ my _ wolf, aren’t you?” the blonde mused to himself, digging the heel of his boot into the ground underfoot, the soil gave way easily, there wasn’t usually much movement at the edge of the forest.

_ We are one. _

_ “ _ So, Lamb it is then.”

Another growl, he could feel the wolf stir, irritated, could feel him threaten to try and push him out of his own mind. They would get nowhere quite fast if he allowed to Lamb to take over so soon though.  Jaejoong clamped down on the wolf, he would be having none of that.

Not now.

There were plenty of ways he could soothe the wolf’s bloodlust, it didn’t  _ have _ to be at the expense of another.

A hunter, or otherwise particularly scummy human tended to work just fine. So did deer, or rabbits or the occasional squirrel. There had been a cat once,  Jaejoong had made sure never to mention it to  Junsu however. 

If it was small, fuzzy and had pointed ears  Junsu just about lost his damn mind. 

Besides the man in the police car... nothing. 

Yet.

There was a skip to  Jaejoong’s step as he pressed forward.

\-----

Yunho laid prone on the ground for... he didn’t know how long it had been. The splitting pain in his skull hadn’t lessened though, rather the bout of tears that had taken too long to stop had only seemed to make it worse. 

Stubbornly he bent one leg at the knee, slamming the tips of his toes into the ground under him. The earth gave way slightly, almost like it was afraid of what he might have done had it not cooperated.

But what could he have done? 

He could lay and wallow in whatever misery he felt until he felt better. If he did that, he would never get up, would he?

Revenge then, wasn’t it?

He had killed those hunters already, the ones whose faces he could remember... the smells he could follow.

They had to come from somewhere, hadn’t they? A pack of them, wouldn’t there been others? He had only managed to find three.

Yunho’s jaw trembled in barely concealed anger. Was he so useless? Unable to pick himself up and figure out what to do now? Where to go?

He hadn’t felt like he had a place within the safety of his own pack, among his own blood, how could someone like him ever have a place anywhere?

_ Alone. It is how it must be. _

Wolf’s voice was heavy, he squeezed his eyes shut at the inky darkness that echoed in his mind. 

It always had been that way. Wolf was not happy, Wolf felt like something was missing and didn’t want to stay.  Yunho hadn’t listened at first, easily brushing off the restless energy of his wolf as nonsense.

He didn’t know when it had changed, what had changed. Had it been himself? Had it been  _ because _ of Wolf?

Eventually, the restlessness had bled into him without the help of his other. Wolf hadn’t needed to voice his dislike, his discontent because it had hit  Yunho square in the chest, pinned him down and refused to let him up. Something was... missing, damned if he knew what it had been though.

He had never spoken up, had no idea if his pack could see or sense it in him.

A mate, his sister had suggested once, had introduced him to a few of her friends. Their perfume made his insides twist painfully, Wolf had been furious, insulted, and  Yunho had snapped that day.

But... he couldn’t really recall it, what he had said or done. Wolf refused to tell him all the while, cutting him off with the only thing he ever said about such things.

_ I have done what  _ we _ must. _

Did he snap often?  Yunho honestly hadn’t kept track.

It had stopped after, the pestering. The desperate, imploring eyes of his mother had gone dark. She loved him still, he could tell, but she had given up on trying to draw him close.

They hadn’t been like he was. They had been happy, content amongst themselves to thrive, to watch the cubs grow up and go out and explore within the realm of their little oasis of a world.

It was all fake, a faux paradise set up for their pack. Why had it sickened him so? 

The hair on the back of  Yunho’s neck prickled. 


	7. Five

Well, Jaejoong hadn’t expected it to be _difficult_ , however he hadn’t expected it to be so easy either. 

Insultingly easy, even. 

This? This... _thing_ had killed _three_ hunters by himself? 

Perhaps they were bad, pathetic beings, but they had dismantled the pack here. Six of the seven... 

As he drew closer though, the blonde understood it a little bit more. 

Grief rolled off of him in waves. And anger, and hate, and disgust, and anguish. The pain that radiated from the limp form of a man would have probably brought him to his knees had he been any lesser than he was. Jaejoong swallowed hard and cut himself off. 

But the other wolf must have noticed him, because he tensed suddenly, and then finally, finally after allowing the blonde to creep up upon him he had moved, it was a frenzied scramble to get up, to run. 

It was too late, much too late. 

A heavy boot connected with the other’s back, landing just between his shoulder blades and Jaejoong kicked downward hard enough that the body under him collapsed into the ground. The strangled gasp that followed told him he had knocked the wind out of the other body. 

Not being able to breathe for a moment when it came to life or death however meant very little. 

A hand had reached out for his ankle, Jaejoong shifted, pressing the whole of his weight into the prone man’s back as he lifted his other foot from the ground. When he brought it back down it was only so he could trap the offending hand under his boot. 

Almost, he had almost missed the pained noise that followed. 

With rather precarious balance Jaejoong crouched down. He didn’t consider for even a second that the man was uncomfortable with the weight of an extra body on top of him. Or, maybe he just didn’t care in the end. 

The blonde slid forward slightly, pressing his knee to the back of the other’s neck and finally he drew his other foot away from the hand it had been crushing. He couldn’t help but smirk catching the angry red imprints marring tanned skin. 

"Now now, little wolf,” Jaejoong cooed far too sweetly, finding a place on the ground to stabilize his other leg, seconds more and he probably would have been flung to the ground and embarrassed. 

\-----

It was the sound of a twig snapping, or had it just been the sound of mud crumbling because it had been drying again? It was something faint, it was barely there, but there suddenly. 

Anxiety licked at his skin, rough like sandpaper that made it too difficult to ignore. 

Yunho had to go. 

His pressed his palms down into the ground under him to force himself up. He had nearly been on his feet when something heavy struck him. 

His arms buckled under the unexpected contact and he collided with the uneven ground under him, that time the side of his face had made contact with the stone he’d nearly lost his teeth on before. A strangled gasp left Yunho, as though his lungs had been popped like a couple of balloons, he panicked when he couldn’t figure out how to take a breath. 

The first instinct he had was to counter attack, his arm reached out, grabbing for the leg that had seemed to materialize out of nowhere, but for a second time he hadn’t been quick enough. 

It was like something had dulled his senses, his vision swam lightly around the edges and even as a heavy boot slammed down into the back of his hand, the protestant noise he made happened seconds after. 

This was it, wasn’t it? Wasn’t it what he had wanted? 

So why had he even tried to run? 

“ _Now_ _now_ _, little wolf_ ,” his skin prickled, the honeyed voice in his ear chased a shudder through Yunho, ultimately, he was confused. 

Death should have come swiftly; someone had come back to finish off what they had started hadn’t they? He’d made an example of the others, surely they wouldn’t underestimate his fury any longer. 

No movement came, everything had gone still and silence dragged forward. Yunho glared hard at the ground and bit the inside of his cheek so hard the taste of copper flooded his senses. He could practically feel the body of the other twitch in surprise, so then... 

A wolf, wasn’t it? 

Then of course, it had to be, right? How else had he not noticed the approach? He growled, agitation cutting into him, why was he so stupid? 

He hadn’t really met many others before, some kids when he was small himself, his sister’s mate, a couple of her friends... They had all been polite to him, not particularly pushing at him in anyway which way. 

Nothing now suggested they were setting up to shake hands and make introductions. 

“Who the fuck are you?” Yunho bit out anyway, the worst thing that could happen was that he would die, he kept telling himself that wouldn’t be so bad. 

A hand caught in his hair, fingers tangling into dark, messy locks and he braced himself for the pull, hard enough to snap his neck or damn near. 

Instead, what he got were fingertips massaging his scalp. The hand pulled away and then returned, it took Yunho a minute to realize the man was _petting_ him. 

“Who!?” 

“Relax a little,” the voice murmured, fingers ghosted along the back of his head, dropping to rest against the side of his throat, the touch was warm, “You’re so wound up, you’re making it very difficult for me to breathe. You won’t best me in a fight with the state you’re in, anyway.” 

He didn’t know what it was about the touch, it was gentle, barely there, but the fingers had not stilled at all. Idle patterns were being traced over his skin in invisible ink, and Wolf who had been ready to overthrow him to fight to the death had gone still. 

It was like the touch pressed some kind of button within him, Yunho opened his mouth, but none of the angry words to make his confusion known came, instead it was a deep breath he drew in. Was it magic? Some kind of trickery, wasn’t it? 

He was in danger, grave danger, why wasn’t his heart racing any longer? 

“Good, good,” the voice above him praised softly, he felt his eyes drifting closed under the touch, but he forced them back open. 

Now was not the time to decide it was alright to doze off. Yet there was something in the air, something sweet and warm that made him feel safe. 

“My name is Jaejoong,” came the explanation, and Yunho was quick to drill the name into his mind, Jaejoong... so what did Jaejoong want from him? “The elders have instructed me to come take a look at what happened here... Someone has been leaving human bodies lying around... So, you’ve survived I see.” 

Jaejoong wasn’t surprised, Jaejoong had known there had been a survivor all along. The elders then... 

Yunho knew of them, of course. Wasn’t that the first thing anyone learned about? The elder council, the alphas of all of the alphas. There were... several of them he knew, a pack that existed to offer assistance and guidance to others. To alphas, to the average member of a pack. 

His family had never needed to call upon them for anything, he didn’t even know their names. 

The elders existed to protect their kind, to make sure they were not a threat to each other... However, there were stories enough. 

When wolves went rogue, when they went wild, the elders always sent _someone_ to clean up. 

Those stories had been the ones interesting to him, whispers shared among children to make sure they behaved or their parents would call the _r_ _eaper_ to take them away. 

Someone had left human bodies lying around... Yunho’s skin prickled all over again, he squeezed his eyes closed tightly as understanding hit him, so it was like that then... 

\----- 

They had been making progress, for a second. He had managed to soothe the wolf a little bit, to take the edge of the emotional tsunami off. It was for his own sake, was what he would have said had there been a witness about, but there was concern lurking in the depths of Jaejoong’s eyes. 

He’d been here before, more than once even. 

He could practically see Changmin’s prone form under him, screaming himself hoarse and damning the world. 

He could hear the rage building up in Sunggyu’s voice when he refused to let go of his hand. 

He could feel Taecyeon’s hands on his collar, shaking him as they argued. 

There was Junsu too, collapsing to the floor in tears again. 

This was just the same. The world had been broken, snatched out from under someone who hadn’t asked for it. 

It was different, he could always tell. What was the difference between a soul that was lost, damaged and one that was just damned? 

It was humanity, as far as Jaejoong was concerned, ironic as it may have been. They were wolves, prideful wild things that had lived on for centuries. Somewhere along the way they had changed, they had adapted to survive in the world as it shifted around them. But they were not gods, he thought, they were not rulers walking among peasants to demand people bow at their feet. They had to be something a little bit more than themselves to survive, something more than just a rabid animal. 

The boy wasn’t damned, not yet. 

Just as quickly as the calm had begun to settle in it had been snatched away again, but Jaejoong wasn’t sure when. Had it been the mention of the fallen pack? The elders? Had he drifted into his own thoughts and missed it? 

“Hey, hey don’t do that,” Jaejoong called, “I’m still talking to you, don’t shut down like that.” 

It was an order, a gentle one, one he was using to feel around the edges of the situation. 

Carefully the alpha shifted, rocking his weight over onto his knee as he pushed away from the body. He sat on the ground instead, bending closer to get a better look. 

A nasty bruise was forming on the lone wolf’s face, and he looked like he hadn’t slept or eaten anything in... well about a week. It made sense, but it was startling all the same, there was youth present in those features despite how haggard he looked. 

He had expected plenty of things. He had expected to find the packs alpha alive, half dead and half insane ready to rip apart anything and everything that approached. He’d expected a grieving young father, far too gone in his own mind now that his light had been snatched away. 

But he hadn’t expected the boy who had lost his family, one that had gone out to avenge them only to return home again and realize there wasn’t actually a home to go back to. Had it been like that? 

“We’re not here to hurt you,” Jaejoong whispered softly, the other had twitched and then opened his eyes to look at him, finally, “It isn’t safe here, so we have come to get you... your name?” 

Dark eyes shimmered at him behind a film of unshed tears, his mouth opened but no words came. Jaejoong closed his eyes and bowed his head, a rare show of submission that the alpha was not keen on handing out, it was a foolish thing to do on a good day, suicidal on a bad one... but utterly necessary in that moment. 

It wouldn’t help, trying to push and demand. They were not pack, they were not family, there was nothing to challenge with the state of the boy. This one needed an olive branch. If he needed to roll over and swallow his pride it would still be there later. 

When he opened his eyes again the blonde was surprised, molten gold eyes stared hard back at him, the boy’s wolf had taken over. Jaejoong reached out, and gently he swept his fingers through dark hair, and then he waited... 

How long had it taken? He hadn’t been counting. 

But something within the other had seemed to cave, he allowed the boy’s wolf to examine him, kept his eyes downcast. 

“He... is called... Yunho,” the speech was simplistic, slow, it wasn’t often a wolf would push into the conscious part of one’s mind without forcing a physical change soon after, “We... are hurting.” 

That was all Jaejoong needed for now. His heart twisted painfully in his chest. 

“Will you allow me to protect Yunho, then? To protect both of you?” 

Yunho’s wolf didn’t speak to him any further, but after what felt like an eternity, a hand took his. 

Jaejoong reacted quickly, he was on his feet in the blink of an eye. Carefully he helped haul the other to his feet, watched the way his knees nearly buckled under him. Yunho’s wolf was still in control, but he didn’t question why. 

They trekked back to his car that way, with Yunho’s body pressed against his back, in silence. 

The _little wolf_ was taller than he was. 


	8. Six

“You need a bath,” they were the first words either of them had spoken since he had helped  Yunho into the passenger seat of the car.

He hadn’t really expected to bring a body home with him, he would have brought the Q7 instead of the R8 if he had been thinking ahead. 

Usually there was no consoling a wolf who had lost their mate, one that had slipped into a state of blood lust was beyond rationality. That had been what he had prepared himself for, heartbreak and rage, he’d already reasoned it out in his mind. A mercy killing, he would have put the wolf to rest, helped him seek out his family in an afterlife  Jaejoong didn’t even believe in. 

There hadn’t even been a fight.

Jaejoong’s eyes left the road, shifting over to take a look at  Yunho . He had looked smaller out in the forest, smaller and frailer amongst the trees that reached up toward the sky. He was too small now for his frame, but it was nothing a bath and properly cooked food couldn’t fix with a bit of time. 

“Are you saying I stink?”  Yunho lifted his head away from the window, he turned enough in his seat to meet the gaze that had been inspecting him.

“Yes,” the answer had been immediate, chased by a faint chuckle.

The blonde had to turn his eyes back to the road, blocking the tilt of  Yunho’s mouth from his mind. Why was he pouting?

“You killed what- three men? Sleeping outside? You think there is even a chance that you don’t stink right now?”

He didn’t even have to look to know a frown was still marring  Yunho’s features, the other made some kind of noise in his throat that seemed to be half of a growl and half of a sigh. The thud of  Yunho’s head colliding with the window caused Jaejoong to wince. 

“ Yunho , please,” the blonde pleaded softly, he reached across the passenger side of the car, laying his hand over the junction of  Yunho’s neck and shoulder.

The lithe alpha wasn’t sure what had happened so suddenly. Everything had been rather mild, but the moment he had opened his mouth to tease the young wolf something had changed. He was surprised by the intensity of  Yunho’s emotions; the distress, the anger and the hopelessness that radiated off of him was overwhelming.

They were not pack; they were not family. Whatever emotional turmoil  Yunho was struggling with should have remained mostly unknown to the alpha wolf, but he felt it, felt it as though someone had ripped open a piece of his soul and forced Yunho’s inside. 

From what he could tell, he didn’t think the other even realized what was going on, that his feelings were on display and gripping at Jaejoong aggressively. 

Pack bonds were hell of a thing, they were all tied together. It wasn’t quite telepathy and it wasn’t entirely fool proof but it helped. If  Jaejoong wanted to he could feel it out and know exactly where the members of his pack were, he could tell how they felt and share his own feelings when he felt so inclined. It was particularly helpful when there was an emergency, even more instantaneous than trying to piece together a group text.

To a degree, it went both ways. Though they couldn’t hold a telepathic conversation they could connect emotionally when they wanted or needed to and they could block each other out when they desired. Well, save for  Jaejoong , he could easily push through whatever walls his wolves put up, but he didn’t like to. He was not a tyrant; he did not force himself onto any of his children if he did not need to.

Yet, searching through that bond now the blonde was not surprised to find  Yunho missing. They were not pack, of course he would not be there.

But he still felt it, the tangle of feelings that gripped at him, that clawed their way under his skin and into his heart.

His knuckles had gone white under the pressure in which he squeezed the steering wheel, so hard that he trembled. 

“ Yunho it’s alright,” he soothed, his thumb stroked gently at tanned skin despite the way he damn near ripped the steering wheel apart with his other hand, “I would like to bring you back to my home... I was hoping you would tell me about yourself on the way...”

\-----

He smelled... bad?

Yunho knew it already. He hadn’t bathed or even changed his clothes since that day... But he did not like the pretty alpha pointing out that he stunk.

He did not.

Whatever  sense of calm he had felt had been shaken. 

He had never, never seen someone so pretty before, and what  impression did he leave? That he was dirty...

The hand on his shoulder had caused him to tense for a moment, and then  Yunho let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.  Jaejoong’s touch was warm, it felt pleasant against his skin, so much better than when the alpha wolf had tried to shatter his spine. The space between his shoulders still ached...

The pretty alpha was begging now.  Yunho’s eyes clouded over and he could sense his wolf shift, too, growling darkly in the back of his mind,  Yunho clamped down on Wolf, forcing him into silence. 

They were... going to  Jaejoong’s home. Hearing that pleased him for some reason, and just as the emotional roller coaster he was trapped on his sent him plummeting toward the ground it was lifting him back up again.

“Okay...” he agreed attentively, “What do you want to know,  Jaejoong ?”

“Don’t you want to call me  hyung ?” the blonde sounded hopeful.

Yunho’s answer was an immediate scowl, “no.”

No, he did not want to call the blonde  _ hyung _ . He did not want an older brother with blonde hair...

He pretended not to notice the way the alpha froze up for a moment before he had resumed massaging the side of his neck.

“How old are you, Yunho?”

“Nineteen...”

He had even surprised himself with how easily he had answered the questions.

His birthday was February 6 th , he liked the  colour green the most, he had finished school and didn’t know what he wanted to be yet. 

Jaejoong had called him a baby and pinched his cheek, and  Yunho hadn’t liked it at all.

But, to distract him the blonde had in turn answered questions about himself.

The blonde was 25, he liked the colour gold, he worked as a tattooist in a shop he owned in the city, his birthday was February 4 th and they both liked the number 5 the most. 

By the time the car had pulled to a stop,  Yunho was smiling, just a little bit.


	9. Seven

He had always felt as though his family owned the world growing up. Their house was sizeable, the land surrounding it had felt never ending when he was small, and he had never really wanted for anything.

Yunho went to a school full of humans; he kept an even temperament and did as he was told. His homework was always completed, he studied when he was supposed to, he had been a part of the football team because one of his classmates had asked him. There had always been people around him, talking and playing about.

He spent most of his time watching, but he was rather disinterested. He knew he was supposed to offer a part of himself, build relationships and all... but what was the point?

He couldn’t tell them anything. He couldn’t jump  up and change, explain why he ran so fast, or why he hadn’t put up a fight that day an angry senior had punched him square in the mouth because he thought  Yunho had looked sideways at him. 

That day he had wanted nothing more than t o crush that human’s throat with his bare hands, but he couldn’t. His parents had told him specifically not to draw attention, that he needed to behave properly.

So , he had, he always had.

Even as a child he hadn’t ever been the sort to seek attention, he hadn’t gone to his mother for affection or to show off some menial accomplishment that should have amazed him the way his sister did. He did accept her hugs and kisses, returned the I Love  Yous , but  Yunho had never needed that. 

He hadn’t  _ wanted _ it.

He had never really wanted anything, but he had had everything he ever could have wanted.

But if he had had the world growing up, what did  Jaejoong own, the universe?

The house was much larger than his own, and regardless of the direction in which he looked he could see nothing save for the stretch of grass and trees, a pond- or was it a lake? Off to the east somewhere...

Only as he properly stepped out of the car did he take an actual look at it. It was sleek and black, shiny and it screamed money. He knew nothing about cars, but he did know if he were to reach out and send his fist through the window the blonde would get angry, wouldn’t he?

His hand curled into a fist before he thought twice, but his skin never came in contact with the smooth surface, halfway through his swing a hand caught his wrist. The hand squeezed, tight enough that  Yunho made an audible noise as he was snapped from whatever trance he’d been pulled into. 

Jaejoong looked...

He looked alarmed, didn’t he? Like he was worried, delicate despite causing  Yunho’s wrist to throb.

“I promise you win that fight,” the alpha wolf hummed, sliding himself slowly between the teen’s body and the side of the car.

He was sure as a physical barrier the car would fare better than the pretty man.

The tension eased from  Yunho’s fist, and though  Jaejoong’s grip had lessened the hand didn’t let go.

“I was just...”  Jaejoong’s eyes were imploring, silently trying to coax him to continue, but Yunho shook his head instead.

He didn’t know what he was doing.

\-----

Yunho wasn’t the first stormy teenager he had come across in life, he probably wouldn’t be the last either. 

Jaejoong didn’t have a type if anyone were to ask him personally, but if they were to ask one of the kids...

They might have thought he had a penchant for the troubled ones, the strays... Perhaps occasionally he would stumble across someone who was hurting or broken and find himself unable to walk away. 

Maybe he saw more than a little bit of hurt in  Yunho , maybe the teenage boy, not really a child any longer but hardly a man just yet, was in more than a few pieces... 

Maybe the blonde wanted to draw his arms around the frame larger than his own, stand on his tiptoes to awkwardly tuck  Yunho’s head under his chin and promise it would all be okay eventually. 

The problem was that he didn’t know, not yet.

He didn’t know what to do for the other, how to mend him or if he even could.  Yunho was faring well, all things considered, too well for someone whose family had been slaughtered like cattle... 

When he fell apart, when something set the wolf off once and for all...

Jaejoong didn’t know what would happen then, but he had never given up before. 

“There is a gym in the basement,”  Jaejoong murmured softly, tugging at  Yunho’s wrist to drag him along away from the car, “I’ll show you after dinner, do you think you could take your  hyung in a fight?”

They were already stepping through the doorway before Yunho found his voice again, the words were muttered under his breath and he wasn’t supposed to hear them, but of course he did.

_ “...not my hyung.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this is quite short, but it'll pick up and all.


	10. Eight

Jaejoong didn’t speak to him any further, just pulled him by the wrist through the house. 

They went upstairs immediately, down a hall way and into a room.

It was a room with light grey walls, a large bed in the center , with different pieces are art hung here and there. He didn’t have time to look before finding himself tugged behind another door.

“Why are there so many doors?”  Yunho did find the room to ask, it was a  hassle wasn’t it? Roaming through so many.

The bathroom was impressive looking though, everything was marble and white sa v e for dark counter t o ps.

The blonde was moving about quickly, almost like he had forgot he wasn’t alone as he bent forward to start running water into the bath tub.

Green tea and lemongrass wafted through the air almost immediately and he found it near intoxicating for his senses had been clogged by stale blood exclusively for days already. He shuddered slightly at the calming scent, suddenly wanting nothing more than to sit down and breathe deeply.

Hands on his shoulders snapped him from the trance,  Jaejoong seemed to smirk at him, “Doors? Ah, well we have to walk through my bedroom to get to my bathroom, you know?”

He nodded, following the logic easily enough- and then he paused, brow furrowing slightly.  Jaejoong’s room? Why were they in the alpha’s personal anything?

Now that it was on his mind,  Yunho realized he could smell nothing save for the man in the space. Wasn’t it peculiar?

“ Jaejoong ... won’t your mate mind that I’m here?” the alpha had just decided on his own, hadn’t he?

He wasn’t so sure he wanted to be there to watch the fall out of that choice.

“I suppose, maybe, if I had a mate,” came the airy answer,  Yunho wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it, “Get undressed now, I’ll go find you something to wear.”

Without being able to help himself, his eyes locked onto the lithe form. He didn’t mean to stare exactly, and yet he couldn’t help but check  Jaejoong o ut from head to toe, head cocking to one side. Right, he was going to fit into something the blonde owned... he doubted that.

“As much as I’d love to get into your pants...”

He liked it, though, the scandalized expression that flickered through the blonde ’ s eyes as they opened wide, he tried to get a better look, to see if the man was actually blushing but he had turned to leave the room so quickly, scowling under his breath about bratty kids.

\-----

They weren’t  _ his _ pants he had been pleased to tell  Yunho with a lopsided smirk on his face, but the black Chrome Hearts tank top he had passed to the teen was from his closet, something properly oversized that he had never been able to style the way he had seen in a magazine. 

In a house that had mostly housed men it wasn’t difficult finding clothes lying about.  Taecyeon had left his entire wardrobe behind when he had moved into his apartment in the city, and the man was both taller and bulkier than  Changmin was. 

It was a temporary fix though, poking through his and Tae’s closets.  Yunho’s clothes were in the washer now, but at some  point he would have to make the decision to drag the teen back to his home or out to a shopping mall. He was leaning toward the mall.

Not that it could be avoided.

At some point they would have to talk about it, he would need to figure out exactly where  Yunho’s head was at. 

A week, there was no way he was alright already. And then there were the police... He had already informed  Taecyeon that he knew who next of kin to the family was, about ten minutes ago while  Yunho was still in his bathtub.

Somehow though, he didn’t think it was a good idea that they rushed down to the morgue. Not yet.

It was the part nobody ever really talked about, nobody tended to think of when tragedy struck, but  Jaejoong had been dealing with this for a while. His first experience had happened over seven years ago already.

There was a teenager in his midst,  Yunho had lost everything, but that wasn’t the end. There was still a house, rifled through and closed off as a crime scene, there were still the remains of the boy’s family that needed to be tended to. It wasn’t a matter of picking the kid up from the ground, giving him a new bedroom and then washing their hands off his past. 

Jaejoong wasn’t entirely sure that  Yunho understood that yet, but he would. 

Just not tonight. 

The knife in his hand rocked back and forth as he fed the vegetables into it. Behind him something on the stove had begun to boil and the heavy scent of herbs and meat wafted through the kitchen.  Changmin would be particularly pleased when he got in upon realizing  Jaejoong had returned in time to put together dinner that day.

Scraping the knife across the cutting board the blonde pivoted on one foot, bringing the portable surface along with him as he dumped the vegetables into the stew he was putting together. Comfort food was the right sort of heavy for the day, he thought.

And if nothing else wouldn’t  Changmin and  Junsu be pleased that he had not once again put  _ rabbit food _ in front of them?

Jaejoong could hear the steps groan near silently in protest of being stepped on and he lifted his head toward the door way though it was empty. Somehow, he had thought  Yunho would opt to stay upstairs, maybe make use of his bed and rest for a while. 

“This way,”  Jaejoong called out, it was unnecessary, if anything the wolf would follow his nose before he followed his ears.

Just a beat later he caught of sight in  Yunho in the doorway, he looked a little bit better already, skin not quite as sallow and no longer caked with blood and dirt. 

Silently he motioned toward the stools on the other side of the island he was working on, it was only a little bit surprising when  Yunho actually sat down. 

“You can cook,” that was a statement, not a question but the young wolf looked and sounded amazed, for some reason the alpha found himself just the slightest bit offended.

Of course, why wouldn’t he be able to cook? What were they supposed to do, live on instant noodles and small animals they caught in the woods?

Jaejoong’s mouth curved into something dangerously close to a pout, “I can. And look at you, who knew you would turn out so handsome.”

It was intended to be just the same, a compliment and what he hoped would be a sharp poke at  Yunho’s pride, but rather than the same flabbergasted feeling that had crept up on the alpha the younger man grinned. He could practically smell how pleased  Yunho was.

How long had it been? Just hours, wasn’t it? Yet  Yunho had already taken him from being the 25 year old respectable alpha to a petulant teenager just beside him. 

“You think I’m handsome,” the teenager was beaming that time, propping his chin up in one of his hands as he leaned into the counter to get a better look at the blonde, it was a statement again, not a question. 

Jaejoong scowled with a click of his tongue and turned back to the stove. With a pair of metal chopsticks in hand he fished a piece of meat from the stew and blew at the steam rising from it, experimentally he squeezed the metal instruments together, but he couldn’t quite figure out how tender the meat was from that alone.

“ Jaejoong ,”  Yunho called out, it snapped the blonde away from what he was doing as he turned, “You’re very beautiful.”

The words were unexpected, his mouth dropped open in a slight gape, if only because he hadn’t expected the forwardness of it. 

While he was distracted  Yunho had leaned forward, pinching the meat between his fingers as he popped it into his mouth with a grin. 

Jaejoong might have stared a little bit too hard as  Yunho sucked on the tips of his thumb and finger.


	11. Nine

Changmin had been roped into a double shift at the hospital, it was the first thing  Jaejoong had said to him when he answered the phone.

The next was a request that he brought coffee home with him. Why whatever they had to make at the house wasn’t good enough,  Junsu didn’t ask.

An iced Americano had been the request and in his ear he had heard  Jaejoong’s murmur of  _ do you want anything _ ?

Well, now that had been interesting, even more interesting had been the immediate retort of  _ no, I’ll share yours _ .

Two iced Americanos, a slice of coffee cake and something sickly sweet for  Changmin to come home to had been the finalized request.

Who was that,  Junsu had wanted to ask, but  Jaejoong wouldn’t have answered him, even if he had and he already knew- roughly.

A new wolf, the one  Jaejoong had gone out to find that morning. To kill, presumably, but he knew the elder council hadn’t exactly given that order specifically; take care of it immediately was what they had told the blonde.

Junsu glanced down at the watch on his wrist. It was nearing six in the  evening, a same day service typically could be considered immediate, right?

But the voice hadn’t sounded deranged, sure his alpha had sounded a little bit exasperated, but nothing had sounded wrong.

On his way out, balancing a tray of drinks and a box packed full of sweets  Junsu had poked his head back in the café and called for  Dongwoo who had taken over until closing.

_ I think there’s a new one _ , he’d told him with a nod, chuckling as  Dongwoo shot him a thumbs up, muttering that he would tell Woohyun.

It never did stay a secret after all, when  Jaejoong picked up a new wolf the news broke rather quickly. 

Everyone would know, but nobody would act until  Jaejoong called for them, well save for he and  Changmin , which was either a perk or downside of living at home with  umma , depending on the day they were asked. 

More than a year had passed since the time in which the alpha had introduced them to  Sunggyu , they had all been starting to think  Jaejoong was perhaps finished collecting lost things. 

Apparently, they had called it too soon. 

Junsu was nearly giddy, he wanted to know what the new wolf was like. If  Jaejoong had decided to bring him back to the house so quickly, he could only imagine.

The new one was probably small and fragile for the alpha to have decided on what to do so quickly.

But if one thing was for sure, he was going to make sure the new one liked him far more than he liked Changmin.

\-----

“Why can’t we share?”

Yunho had lost his damn mind, he had to have. 

Where had the timid shell of a man from out in the forest gone? A hot bath and three plates of food later,  Jaejoong didn’t know what he was looking at. 

Yunho wasn’t talkative exactly, he had sat quietly for the most part, but the teenager’s eyes had nearly never left him as he moved about the kitchen, while they were eating, while he was cleaning up... 

Once in a while though, he would chime in with some kind of commentary or a small question.

Or was it perhaps that  Yunho had never been in his right mind? Afterall, they were rather perfect strangers, weren’t they?

Yunho’s wolf had seemed rather honest though, they were alone and hurting... 

He was the person who had stepped in to make sure the other wouldn’t be lonely anymore, he was offering warmth and peace and quiet, so wouldn’t it make sense then, having the other cling to him like he was?

It was certainly unlike anything he had ever witnessed before. 

He could have been planning to hurt  Yunho , yet it was like with nothing to lose the younger man had thrown caution and reason to the wind.

That much could be underlined, when he dared suggest they could share his coffee. 

The psychopath clearly had no idea who he was dealing with. 

Jaejoong swiped his tongue over his mouth to moisten his lips as he regarded the teenager, “I’ve killed men for suggesting less. You will not touch my coffee,  Junsu is bringing you one.”

Yunho’s eyes narrowed, there was a slight tilt to his head, and once again  Jaejoong found the way the other watched him slightly unnerving. 

“Okay,”  Yunho declared, lifting his chin defiantly, “Kill me then.”

He wanted to laugh, he nearly had, but the way the other caught his eyes had stopped him before he was able.

The alpha’s stare was somewhat blank at first, he was willing to humor the boy, but then  Yunho had leaned forward just a little bit and squared his shoulders. It was a challenge, albeit a subtl e, silent one.

It left him near dumbfounded, and yet he would not allow it, not in his home. Not from a stranger.

Lamb was calm though, and he knew to be thankful for that he held  Yunho’s gaze. His wolves  knew better, they would have never issued a challenge, much less look ed to keep it going to see how long they could push their luck.

Jaejoong was more patient than most alphas were, he knew that, at times he was a little bit too lenient, maybe too forgiving, but that was early on, that was when they were still new and dumb. Sort of like  Yunho was, but not quite.

Like himself  Yunho had been a wolf since the day he had been born, he had not stumbled into an unfortunate situation like most did.  Yunho knew better. 

So he gave the first warning, a low growl in the back of his throat.

Yunho looked away immediately, and the blonde released a breath he hadn’t meant to be holding.

The sound of the front door opening spared them the discussion that should have happened.

Junsu was home.

Jaejoong was on his feet immediately, and once he got to the door frame he paused only to glance over his shoulder, “ _ stay _ .”


	12. Ten

" _Well_ , aren't you looking lively, umma?” 

That was the problem in a household of wolves, wasn’t it? It was awfully difficult to keep most conversations quiet. The kitchen was but a hop and a skip away from the foyer, far too close to keep anything that wasn’t a whisper private. 

Not that _stay_ told Junsu a whole lot. 

Jaejoong would have glared at him, had he not held the tray of heavily caffeinated drinks out under the alpha’s nose and pasted his most disarming smile on his face. His ‘umma’ liked when he smiled he knew, and he was just the right sort of devious to use that knowledge to every advantage he could. 

The slight disheveled look to the blonde was an attractive one, but not always the most favorable. His words had been a sort of a giveaway though, because the alpha rolled his shoulders until the joints made a hollow popping sound and he stood just a little straighter. 

Junsu always found it amusing, the way the other would try and puff himself up to look bigger than he was, it never particularly worked though. More often than not he and Changmin stopped to point out the man’s shrinking figure, the way neither fat nor muscle seemed willing to cling to the blonde’s form for longer than the blink of an eye. 

They all suffered though, whenever the alpha was in a mood after getting into a one-sided argument with his reflection, vegetables and broths would litter the dinner table for at least a week. It was awful. 

Sneaking late night pizza past Jaejoong’s nose was impossible, not that it stopped them from trying. 

That didn’t seem to be the issue today though, Jaejoong had gone all out and made some kind of expensive beef by the smell of it. Changmin would be lucky if he had a plate to come home to. 

“Yunho is in the kitchen,” Jaejoong told him quietly as he crowded in closer, not ‘the new one’- Yunho specifically, “Su, he’s only a baby. I expect you and Min to be on your best behavior.” 

Like always, but that part went unsaid. 

Junsu’s brow furrowed slightly though as he considered the words. A baby, was it? What did Jaejoong consider a baby to be? 

Young? Small and scared? Maybe he hadn’t even been a wolf for long- that was a feeling Junsu could relate to all too well. Hadn’t he been that way when he had met Jaejoong for the first time? Small, scared and new? 

“Baby?” Junsu inquired curiously, he’d wanted to slide right past the alpha and head to the kitchen immediately, but Jaejoong as though sensing his intention had held an arm out to make sure he went nowhere, “Like... Jiyool baby?” 

No, not like the alpha’s niece then, the blonde looked perplexed at the mention of the four year old girl before he finally shook his head. Jaejoong’s expression betrayed his thoughts. 

Who had given Junsu stupid pills that morning? 

“Why would you compare Yunho to that tiny demon? No. He’s nineteen.” 

“De... _demon_? How can you compare that sweet girl to... I’m telling auntie Sunmi,” Junsu pursed his mouth into a frown as he uttered the threat. 

“The hell you will. Don’t you remember when Jiyool was born? She peed on me,” the blonde complained indignantly, turning away to head back toward the kitchen, “What about when she used my Italian boots as a toy boat in the bathtub? Or when she snuck a bag of powdered sugar _you_ and _Changmin_ were _hiding_ out of the pantry and used it to make smoke bombs so she could be a ninja turtle? Huh? That sweet girl? The one who poured not one, but three bottles of black ink on the white carpet? Do you remember when this house had carpets in it? Do you?” 

Junsu really had been trying to hold his composure as the blonde ranted some of the mischievous injustices that had befallen him because of little Jiyool. The alpha’s voice carried though, growing slightly louder and more distressed with each memory as they stepped into the kitchen. 

He really, really had been trying but he had lost it somewhere between ninja turtle and recalling the day Jaejoong’s precious carpets had been ruined. 

Changmin had been babysitting that day- and thank god it had been Changmin because any of the rest of them probably would not have survived umma’s wrath. 

His shoulders shook as he laughed, and he laughed so hard he stumbled, barely managing to set down the tray of coffees and box of pastry on the counter top before he tumbled to the ground as said laughter pulled the air right out of his lungs. 

What Jaejoong never understood or at least never cared to hear, and the reason Jiyool was such a prize was that she was essentially Jaejoong all over again. The man’s four older sisters told the stories well, recounting the mishaps the miniature devil that had been Jaejoong had caused when he was small only to recount eerily similar adventures that the man’s niece had put them through so far. 

Pictures told a better story for anyone who doubted it, well- anyone except for the blonde alpha. He refused to see the similarities between baby pictures of himself and his niece but Junsu could see them, and so could the rest of their pack. 

Jaejoong had a twin born 21 years after he was. 

Through the excitement Junsu had failed to notice the teenager perched on one of the kitchen stools who was now watching him like he had just witnessed the escape of a mad man from an asylum, nor did the sky haired man notice the slightly wild look in the blonde’s eyes. 

He wheezed through another laughing cough and silently mourned Changmin’s absence. Changmin would understand why he was laughing. 

“Ummaaaa help,” Junsu practically cried, stretching one of his hands toward the ceiling. 

Despite the mild annoyance he could smell rolling off of Jaejoong a hand grabbed his own and Junsu had been pulled to his feet as though he had weighed even less than a feather. 

The blonde didn’t release him either until he was stable on his feet, but after Jaejoong’s hands had left him they had returned, swatting him in the back of the head, hard. 

\-----

“You are scaring Yunho,” Jaejoong practically hissed, for a moment Yunho though he might smack the man again, but it didn’t happen. 

Instead the blonde had grabbed for two of the drinks from the tray, sipping on one and gingerly setting the other down in front of him. 

“He isn’t scaring me,” Yunho corrected, though he did glance over once again, not the least bit surprised to find the man staring at him as well. 

The sky haired man _did_ look surprised though, but he didn’t know why. 

“See, he isn’t scared,” came the echo of his words, and the man pursed his mouth together in a way that reminded Yunho of a duck- it was weird, “Hello Yunho, my name is Junsu.” 

They were supposed to exchange niceties and formalities now he knew, but the teenager was distracted, instead watching the way Jaejoong’s mouth wrapped around the straw of his drink, chasing whatever had caught onto his lips with his tongue as he put the cup of coffee down on the counter. 

Junsu was still watching him, he knew, but when Jaejoong had turned his back Yunho had quickly swapped his cup with Jaejoong’s, drawing the still wet straw to his own mouth. He bit down on it, lightly mangling the thin plastic as his eyes drifted back over to Junsu. 

Yunho grinned and then he nodded, “Nice to meet you, Junsu.” 

He waited, watching, nearly daring the sky haired man to speak up, but instead he seemed to relent, holding his hands up in mock surrender. 

“This one is _mine_ ,” Junsu declared as he lifted the last cup from the tray, he tapped at his name where it was written, “Coffee is disgusting.” 

“Oh be quiet you heathen,” the alpha protested, balancing a plate in one and a pair of forks in the other, “How can I trust you to run the café if you refuse to taste the products?” 

“I think this tastes very nice,” Yunho interrupted carefully, “Thank you, Junsu, you’re a great barista.” 

But he ignored the slight choking sound that strangled the back of Junsu’s throat, or rather he ignored Junsu entirely at that point as he watched the blonde set a plate down on the counter and slide onto the stool across from him. 

Some kind of crumble topping was mixed in with caramel over the top, and he could smell cinnamon as well. Coffee cake, it was his favorite. 

“Is that for me?” he wanted to know. 

A fork was waved in his face suddenly and he took it, “no, it’s for us. You wanted to share with me, right?” 

Junsu was choking again, but he covered the sound up with a cough when the blonde had turned to look at him, “sorry, went down the wrong pipe. Wow, breathing isn’t my strong suit today. I’m going to go call Changmin and get a medical opinion on this.” 

But Jaejoong didn’t seem to be listening to him anymore, he’d turned back and had caught Yunho’s gaze in a staring contest again. 

This time, the teenager blinked and looked away. After all, Jaejoong was sharing cake with him now, wasn’t he? And he had managed to commandeer the blonde’s drink without him noticing. 

Small victories were just perfect for Yunho, for now. 


	13. Eleven

The caramel was sickly sweet in his mouth. It clung rather persistently to his tongue leaving the blonde to reach for the bitter iced coffee for comfort.

Jaejoong didn’t do sweets practically ever. Fruit, maybe, once in a while he could be caught nibbling on chocolate covered strawberries, but he preferred them without the chocolate. When the occasion was particularly  special he would indulge with an ice cream cone, but he couldn’t remember the last time that had happened.

So why was he there now? Why was he sitting across from a teenage boy sharing a piece of coffee cake?

Arguably, it was a nice way to wrap up dinner, wasn’t it? A special occasion indeed, it  was the first meal they had together... Desert wasn’t all too common following dinner though , when it did happen the alpha usually sat with a cup of coffee wondering where he had failed as a parent.

He had the best family, he had always known it, be it his sisters or his pack they were just the very best anyone could hope for. Except for the very real war on sugar that seemed to be a permanent struggle under his roof.

“You look like you’re in pain,”  Yunho’s voice snapped him from his thoughts, “you don’t like  sweets ?”

Jaejoong swiped his tongue across his lower lip and then he smiled slowly. It seemed he’d been made already, that hadn’t taken long at all, though he couldn’t say it was a bad thing. If he noticed it properly,  Yunho rather seemed to enjoy the cake.

From a  view point of appearance, he thought it was lovely, most deserts were. They were pretty and perfect looking, but the sugary smell tickled his nose and made him wa nt to sneeze, and the sweet taste that flooded his mouth made him nauseous. 

“Afraid not, I thought it might be a nice way to finish off dinner though,” he didn’t want to call it a celebration or a homecoming for that was not his  ch oice to make, but he felt like something had been needed.

Realization seemed to flicker in  Yunho’s eyes and  Jaejoong was glad for that. He’d tried, really, two and a half bites  wasn’t it? It seemed as good a place as any to call it quits, so he set his fork down and nudged the plate in  Yunho’s direction. 

Fortunately,  Yunho didn’t seem to mind, judging by the way he dug the fork into the cake and then brought it to his mouth. The way the other could eat such a thing straight faced-  Jaejoong didn’t like it. The teen clearly had the mouth of a demon.

They were all that way, though  Junsu wouldn’t overdo sweets he liked them. It meant any time they put it to a vote he lost and perhaps he had  had  a little bit of hope for Yunho, but it seemed the numbers would fall three to one if anything.

Well damn.

“I appreciate you indulging me,” there was a charming smile plastered on the teenager’s face, one  Jaejoong’s couldn’t help but return, “Now open up.”

For a moment  Jaejoong went cross eyed, staring down at the cake covered fork that was in his face suddenly, a joke he had assumed. But his eyes travelled from the offending desert to  Yunho’s face and the other merely cocked his head to the side impatiently, eyes imploring.

He really, really wasn’t sure why he had opened his mouth.

\-----

“ An~swer the pho-ne~”  Junsu sing- songed brokenly.

He set the phone down on his desk and propped his head up in one of his hands as he stared at the black screen, squinting at the small camera that reflected himself like a mirror. Facetime was a pretty exciting human development, but not if he was trying to talk to himself.

There were  actual  mirrors for that.

As though willed by his command alone the screen flickered to life suddenly. 

Instead of some shade of blue like usual  Changmin was in different scrubs,  Junsu squinted and leaned closer to his phone as though to get a better look. He’d never noticed those in the other’s closet before.

“Is that Totoro?” he wondered in lieu of a greeting.

Given the way one of  Changmin’s eyebrows shot up and then he glanced down Junsu wondered if the other even knew himself.

“There’s Totoro, I have Haku down here,  Calcifer is on my shoulder and I’ve a picture of Howl on my back somewhere,” came the correction, he did watch the younger man point to different spots, but he was too busy trying to blink away his surprise, “Umma got these for me. I’m working in the children’s ward today.”

Which made a lot more sense, he thought. Why it hadn’t occurred to him at first  Junsu wasn’t sure.  Changmin had already left when he had rolled out of bed that morning though, usually he dropped in to pester the man while he was getting ready, but double shifts in the hospital were no joke and the only reason  Changmin’s dinner was safe in the refrigerator.

“Oh! Speaking of children... your  umma is broken,”  Junsu informed with a small frown.

He paused for a moment, leaning back in his chair some to glance toward the door. There was no movement outside of it, but he til t ed his head slightly, straining to see if he could pick anything up, there didn’t seem to be any sort of excess noise to be found though. 

For sure his complaint had seemed to catch the nurse’s attention.  Changmin’s brow furrowed and for a second it looked as though he’d dropped his phone as the camera dropped suddenly before being lifted again so they could look at each other.  Changmin was moving now, he could tell because of the way lights kept appearing over head as he walked, and once again he found himself glad the younger man was keen enough to put headphones in before he answered any phone calls.

“Why is he _my_ umma when something goes wrong, huh? You both do that actually, yeah, I know you do it. ‘Jaejoong _your_ son is an as- unpleasant person,’ ‘Jaejoong control _your_ child,’ you’re not subtle or clever.”

Junsu could feel his face heat up, of course he knew already that he and  Jaejoong had that sort of habit, pass around the  Changmin , or pass around the  Jaejoong as it were but... Well, it was worse being called out on it, wasn’t it? A little person must have been nearby though, he definitely hadn’t missed the correction the other made for himself.

He was a little bit proud, actually, but he always had been.  Changmin for as much of an asshole as he could be was pretty great most of the time. He worked hard at the hospital, and considering that at the end of the day he was a wolf, a wild thing, seeing him take such care with his patients was touching. 

“Because _your_ umma is downstairs eating _cake_ with a new wolf,” Junsu pointed out gravely, fixing a small frown to his features, it was quite serious, wasn’t it? “He’s nineteen, Minnie. Make sure you have your Ghibli scrubs on when you meet him.”

Was  Changmin listening? He didn’t think so, there was a contemplative look on the nurse’s face as he stepped into an elevator, there were three different things he could imagine the other to be stuck on. 

“Umma is eating cake?”  Changmin’s voice was small, timid sounding so unlike the man and  Junsu bit hard on the tip of his tongue to keep was laughing, “Strawberry?”

It was too much fun, whether  Changmin was distressed there was cake being eaten without him or something else- he didn’t know. But he was far too amused for his own good, “nope, caramel coffee cake.”

“Check to see if he has a fever. I’ll take a look when I get home,”  Junsu did properly lose it then, laughing rather heartedly, “Hey! I’m serious, I won’t be home until sometime after one this morning. Call me again if anything else weird happens, okay?”

“Don’t worry, Minnie. There is more cake,”  Junsu practically cooed, playfully blowing a kiss at his phone before cutting the call off. 

However, he would not be the one to approach  Jaejoong with a thermometer to see if the man was deathly ill. He didn’t need to end up in the ER with a broken wrist.


	14. Twelve

_ I think he should get used to you, first. _

Junsu had said it with a smile and a glint in his eye, perhaps he should have been suspicious. 

However, suspicious as he should have been  Jaejoong couldn’t deny it being a sound idea. 

The first meeting had gone well, hadn’t it? He couldn’t recall a single person  Junsu struggled to get along with though, when it was a good first  impression he wanted , Junsu was the one to start with. He was kind and even tempered, willing to serve a smile to everyone. 

Changmin was a bit  pricklier , a bit more judgmental and difficult to please.

None of it really mattered in the end though. If he wanted to welcome someone into his home , he dared anyone under his roof to step a toe out of line. That mindset extended  somewhat  to Yunho as  well, guest or not.

There was a level of wiggle room he would extend the teen though he knew. He didn’t know when or what it would be that would finally cause him to crack, didn’t know how he would break down either. 

Violently.

Violently was  Jaejoong’s guess if the corpses of the hunters had been a hint to anything. He couldn’t and wouldn’t allow the teen to tear apart one of his own though, nor would he allow  Yunho to harm himself for that matter.

A leash, a short one, was necessary. 

Which was why he had shown  Yunho to the room next door to his own, it functioned more as an office space than a proper bedroom, mostly because of the door that opened into his room directly. The last thing he needed or wanted was for anyone to have too easy of a time disturbing him.

Yet if something went wrong he wanted to make sure he could get to the teen or that  Yunho could get to him if he felt the need.

He wasn’t cruel though, he had offered to straighten up all of the lo o se sketches and move the different sketch books liter ing  the desk within the space, but  Yunho had insisted it was fine.

“Please don’t misunderstand,”  Jaejoong hummed  softly, “ I don’t want you to feel unwelcome here.”

They were in the living room, on the sofa and staring at the television. Lilo and Stitch was playing, it was ridiculous, but it was the disk left in the DVD player from when  Sunmi and  Jiyool had been over to visit just a couple of days ago. Somehow,  Yunho had seemed to perk up seeing the Disney Castle logo, and at that point he hadn’t had it in himself to switch movies. 

His words had definitely distracted the other from the TV though, and as  Yunho opened his mouth to speak he held a hand up to stop him. 

“Look, you wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want you, okay? But a lot ha s happened and  sure,  you seem alright now but,” that was fickle, wasn’t it? 

Temporary. the way  Yunho looked away suddenly was the only confirmation he needed, the calm before the storm was there, and he didn’t think any of them knew how long it would last. 

“Just a couple of nights, hm? And then after that you can pick a room for yourself. For now , I just want to keep you close, I’ll keep you sa fe Yunho, I promise I will,” he didn’t think it sounded unreasonable, and yet for some reason he felt strangely emotional.

Initially he’d planned to just leave it as it was. He told  Yunho where he would be sleeping, the why wasn’t necessary. Giving him the option to pick a different room later wasn’t necessary, but he’d done it anyway.

Now there were quite a mess of emotions radiating from the teen,  Yunho was back on a roller coaster and once again  Jaejoong found himself held hostage on the ride as well.

Luckily, he  was a bit more well-rounded, a bit better at pulling himself back together. Then again, he’d not just watched his family’s slaughter some days back...

The best thing he could do now was probably distracting  Yunho , “Ah, Junsu is usually my cuddle buddy when we watch movies, do you mind?”

Yunho just looked even more confused at the words, like there was too much information for him to process all at once.

“I... I don’t mind,” though he didn’t sound certain, like he was walking into a field of land mines without knowing where they were. 

\-----

What was a  _ cuddle buddy _ in the blonde’s eyes?

He wanted to ask, wanted to find out what he had just agreed too while h is mind was still reeling but he hadn’t had the chance to. 

Jaejoong had pushed away from the corner of the sofa he’d had himself tucked into, and in one rather fluid motion the man stretched out. The next thing he knew he was staring down at the back of a very blonde head that was in his lap suddenly. 

Yunho’s attention had been ripped away from the  colour cartoon characters on the TV screen, he found himself hyper focused on blonde hair instead.

The last twenty or so minutes had been overwhelming.

He’d found out  Jaejoong didn’t like sweets at all, but the man had sat down to share a slice of cake with him. The interesting part had been that even after professing his dislike the blonde had allowed  Yunho to feed him anyway,  begrudgingly opening his mouth each time he held the fork out. 

Why?

Yunho had been trying to figure out why  Jaejoong had cooperated with him with no success. Because he wanted to, obviously? But clearly  Jaejoong hadn’t wanted to eat cake...

Beyond his mind being completely occupied by the things the alpha had allowed him to fill his mouth with, the other seemed concerned for his wellbeing. He felt fine, he wanted to argue, but he’d been silenced before he’d even been able to speak about it.

Jaejoong wanted him there, but they didn’t really know each other, and  Yunho , who couldn’t really ever recall finding interest in another person , had been confronted with the fact that he wanted to be there, too.

Jaejoong _wanted_ him there, his mind kept replaying the words again and again, as though suddenly he might understand it better. Why would anyone want him around? Jaejoong already had a pack didn’t he? He had people beside him.

There was  Junsu , who had seemed nice enough, and there was  Changmin who had been mentioned plenty but was not there.  Yunho didn’t really care for  Junsu though, he didn’t think he would care for  Changmin either.

Or the others, there were other ones too, apparently, just... not there.

“I like this movie,”  Yunho admit quietly, dragging his eyes back to the screen when maniacal laughter had filled the silence,  somehow he always felt like he related to Stitch, as childish as it made him feel. 

“Oh? I’m surprised someone like you can admit you liking Disney movies.”

“Someone like me?” he wondered at what that was even supposed to mean.

“You’re bigger than me, hm? Doesn’t your typical teenage boy growing up  struggle to prove how cool or manly they are?”  Jaejoong chuckled as he spoke, as though realizing what he’d said sounded ridiculous as he said it.

They could agree to that, but mostly he was finding it distracting the way he could so faintly feel the blonde’s lips brushing against the inside of his thigh as he spoke. He supposed he understood it though, he’d heard something similar before in school. Someone who looked like him, someone who was on the football team, why didn’t he date the cheer leaders and bully the smaller kids? 

“Well, I just like what I like,” and he’d never felt the need to be any other way.

Though  Yunho’s eyes did travel over  Jaejoong’s form, of course he’d noticed it before, that he was taller than the man, he was a bit bulkier than he was, too. He liked that, for some reason. 


	15. Thirteen

At some point during the movie he had drifted off, but he wasn’t sure when. The last thing he’d remembered was Cobra Bubbles visiting the house and then...

Well, technically the last thing he remembered was  Yunho’s hand, the way his fingers just barely ruffled the tips of his hair. When he hadn’t pulled away or commented the other had seemed to grow a bit bolder until he had started to pet him openly.

Apparently , that was a surefire way to put him to sleep. 

When  Jaejoong’s eyes had opened next the credits had been roll ing along the screen and there had been a warm hand laying against the side of his throat. 

Jaejoong lifted his shoulder and turned his head, catching the hand so he could nuzzle his face against it. He was comfortably groggy, his limbs and head felt heavy and he wanted little more than to roll over and go back to sleep. 

It took exactly ninety-six seconds for the blonde to realize what he was doing. The fog of sleep evaporated from over him and his eyes opened wider, darting around the room. His living room- his sofa...

There was something dark under his head, and it took him even more seconds to realize he’d still be using  Yunho’s lap as a pillow. Where else would he have been though? He’d pointedly stretched out to use the man as a pillow.

“Hello again,”  Yunho’s voice was soft and yet it sounded smug a t the same time, “Did you have a nice nap?”

The teen had leaned forward and suddenly his vision was flooded with the other.  Jaejoong shifted until he was on his back instead so he could stare at  Yunho’s face more easily. 

“Mm,” he half moaned, not entirely trusting his voice  immediately, he reached up though and laid one of his hands against  Yunho’s cheek as he smiled sleepily.

He was too agreeable when he first woke up, he knew, or so it went when he was able to actual ly wake up on his own instead of being startled from his sleep. Like a cat, he wanted to curl up and chase the  heat , for it to continue warming his skin and lulling him into content.

But  Yunho’s eyes were so sharp his skin prickled and he practically shuddered.

“Sorry, you’re too comfortable,”  Jaejoong murmured softly around a slow yawn, he had to force himself to look away from  Yunho’s gaze, “you should have  woken me up.”

“You looked really nice sleeping in my lap, I didn’t want to disturb you,” came the explanation.

Only then did  Jaejoong find himself conscious of the way the other had leaned into his touch, that he hadn’t yet withdrew his hand which meant he could feel the slight brush of  Yunho’s lips against his palm as he spoke.

He had to remind himself it would be wholly inappropriate to roll over and go back to sleep. Even if he could overlook the part where staying so close to  Yunho like that was not good for either of them, he wouldn’t want to deny the other the ability to rest. 

“Should head upstairs now,” he sat up carefully and withdrew his hand from the side of  Yunho’s face.

For now, he would pretend not to hear the indignant huffing of a child that did not want to obey bedtime. Well, not a child but close enough to one for arguments sake.

“Come on,  Yunho ,”  Jaejoong attempted and drew himself to his feet slowly, “I’m going to bed at least, do you want to stay down here by yourself?”

It could have been appealing perhaps, a perfect opportunity to sneak around the house and rob it blind if that was what the boy planned. There were a couple things though; the first being that  Yunho wouldn’t get far before  Jaejoong hunted him down, and the second being that he didn’t think  Yunho would do that.

Farfetched of  Jaejoong to say  Yunho wouldn’t hurt him that way, they didn’t know each other, but he felt it down in his soul that that was the case.

Until he was proven  wrong , he tended to lean heavily on his instincts. 

Yunho wasn’t cooperating though, the other looked at him and pursed his lips together into a pout as though he’d taken a vow of silence. 

“ Yunhooo , come on,” he half whined in agitation, grasping onto one of the teens wrists to pull him along, “Please? I have work in the morning, do you want me to be tired all day?”

It was bullshit, mostly. Sure,  Jaejoong had work tomorrow, but his first appointment wasn’t until about noon, he easily could have been up for several hours still and gotten more than enough sleep before he needed to head into the shop. However,  Yunho didn’t know that and it seemed to be the last push he needed.

He nearly slid down to the floor because the teen had stood unexpectedly, he had been leaning nearly all of his weight back onto the balls of his feet in an attempt to force  Yunho upright but it hadn’t worked. Luckily, if only to spare him the embarrassment of busting his ass,  Yunho had pulled him back in turn, just enough that he could properly get his feet back under him.

“Work? Like you’re leaving?” it wasn’t a surprise that  Yunho latched onto the information while ignoring everything else.

“It’ll only be a few hours, I’ve a couple of appoint-”

“I want to go with you.”

The way the other cut him off  sh ould have been enough to annoy him, he would have been, if he didn’t find himself a little bit surprised by the declaration. 

He’d thought, if anything,  Yunho might have been interested in taking a ride to the café with  Junsu , wandering out and about to see what was nearby. If that hadn’t sounded appealing, maybe he would have been alone then, hanging out in the house and finding something to do.

Sleep or make use of the gym downstairs or... something. 

Not with him though, he hadn’t expected  Yunho to wa nt to go along with him and sit in the tattoo parlor all day doing nearly nothing.

Was it wrong of him to be surprised though? Afterall, he had brought  Yunho along... It only made sense the other was looking to stay near him for a while. 

“...Okay, fine. If you stop being a brat and go to bed,” he reasoned, “I guess... we can do breakfast and then go to work or something.”

No, you’ll go with  Junsu.

No, you’ll be staying here.

Those were the things he should have said. 

\-----

Nearly twenty hours ago before the sun had even begun to rise  Changmin had stepped out into the cool early morning air to climb into his car and head to the hospital.

He was supposed to be gone for twelve hours, a standard enough shift the way his schedules fell, but an influx of things happening had found him clocking over time.

He always had seemed to have a soft spot he wouldn’t admit to when it came to children.

Twelve hours had flown by before he had even realized it, though a fair chunk through his day he’d received an interesting call from  Junsu .  Changmin couldn’t muster up the will to be surprised when he had heard that the wolf  Jaejoong had gone out to  put down had come back with him to their home.

If there was something his  umma really enjoyed it was anything broken with a tragic past, to the man’s credit though he was actually rather capable of fixing what he set out to.

The rest of them were a heavy testament to that.

Some days though, he felt broken down all over again, it didn’t hit him often but when it did...

Th at was something that occasionally made his work extremely difficult. Changmin didn’t think himself to be the emotional sort, he thought with his head first and his heart last if at all and always had.

Sometimes though being in the hospital, encountering people rushed through the doors knowing that they would never walk out again became extremely draining.

He had spent the last four hours of his shift inside of the same room, sitting on the edge of 9 year old  Daehyun’s bed while they played video games.

He had only stopped in to make his routine checks before he had intended to step out to eat something, but the boy had been awake, bright eyed and happy to see someone besides his exhausted mother.

_ Can you stay _ ? 

No, was what he was supposed to say.

The last time  Changmin had told a patient he could not stay, a woman in her mid-forties with no family to call upon, they had died alone just before he had made it in to his shift the next day and it had torn him up inside. 

His mother was long dead and gone, but what if it had been her? He hadn’t been able to bring himself to say no since, though it wasn’t a request he got often.

Video games it had been while  Daehyun’s mother caught up on some of the sleep she desperately needed. 

Smash was Daehyun’s favorite game and all of the time in the hospital had made him quite good at it too.

_ When you get better _ ...  Changmin had made the mistake of saying. When he went home, when he got bigger and  stronger, he could have a future working on such games if he’d wanted.

It was supposed to be encouraging, he’d said the words with a smile on his face, and he had had his heart broken without warning just moments after.

Daehyun wouldn’t be leaving the hospital, the boy had told him with a gentle hand placed over his arm. He wasn’t getting better; he was getting sicker and it had been extremely jarring to hear such a small person state so calmly that they were going to die. His mom and dad would be alright though, his little brother, 3, would help them get through it and he was too young to understand, so he would grow up and be strong enough to heal the hearts of their parents.

Twenty minutes after, another nurse had stepped in to keep  Daehyun company, and  Changmin had practically stumbled out of the room with tears in his eyes.

The door behind him had barely even clicked shut before he has let out a garbled sob.

Even now his eyes were a little bit misty, but  Junsu was waiting up for him and it was late and all he needed was to step into a quiet house and curl up in  Junsu’s bed.

So by the time the time the house had pulled into his view Changmin had been ready to jump out of the car already, but he had waited until he had parked properly. 

He climbed the stairs two at a time and practically jumped across the porch, keys rattling as he fought with the lock on the door. It clicked open and Changmin let out a breath he hadn’t intended to be holding.

The keys jingled loudly in the silence as he tossed them onto the table.


	16. Fourteen

_ “ _ _ Yunho _ _...” Eunji* called softly, she stood in the doorway, “would you mind?” _

_ He was up and on his feet before she could say anything else. _

_ Gentle hands reached out and Eunji carefully shifted the little girl into his arms. _

_ She was much calmer than her brother who was clinging to his mother tightly as sniffles and soft hiccups caused his entire form to tremble. _

_ “Is he alright,  _ _ noona _ _?” his nephew had been irate all day, though that arguably wasn’t uncommon for either of the 3 year olds. _

_ “Doctor says ear infection,” came the explanation as she nuzzled into the little boy’s hair, “You’re okay, right? My big brave boy. Daddy’s on his way home.” _

_ He found it impressive, on some level, the way his sister and brother-in-law had... adapted so well. In their family they didn’t really have much experience with children. _

_ Eunji was four years older than he was, but not older enough that she would have vividly remembered when he was small and how to take care of him. However, something in her had changed when she found out she was pregnant. She had been calm and pleasant for the first few weeks, and then when she had found out she was having two... _

_ His sister had spent most of her pregnancy in a state of concern, bouncing from a timid almost confidence to a full-blown panic attack at the drop of a hat. He’d asked her once, if the second baby had really made  _ that _ much of a difference... and she had thrown her bowl of oatmeal at his head and ordered him to go fuck himself. _

_ Their parents had been in mild horror and a barely hidden amusement. _

_ The day he’d told her she would give birth to puppies if she didn’t stop being such a bitch... Well, eventually Eunji had started speaking to him again. _

_ Despite all of the chaos and how worried she had been, Eunji and  _ _ Juwon _ _ were wonderful parents from what he could tell. _

_ The twins weren’t overly spoiled, but they were well provided for and about as well behaved as small things that didn’t really understand rules or why they had to follow them went... _

_ Until someone didn’t feel well, then it was a lot of crying, a lot of screaming.  _

_ Resting his niece on his hip carefully he swayed back and forth and glanced toward the clock on the wall. It was well past 10, past the twin’s bed time and their own parents had also settled down for the night. _

_ “So, all because of a transformer, huh? Aren’t kids supposed to latch onto blankets or something?” _

_ “Are  _ _ you _ _ serious right now, Yunho? You carried around that Bambi doll until you were seven...” _

_ “Hey! Don’t insult my daughter that way...” _

_ “... _ _ Yunho _ _ , Bambi isn’t...” _

_ “Ah, the car,” he interrupted Eunji before she could prattle off any more of her nonsense.  _

_ In the space of seconds, the sound of a car engine shutting off was extremely loud. His nephew perked up immediately, lifting his head with his snotty nose and watery eyes from where it had been buried his  _ _ in sister’s _ _ shoulder. _

_ Children... really were gross. Nothing like his own daughter who was quiet and well behaved and did as he told her, which was mostly just to stay where he put her. He glanced over toward the stuffed deer sitting on his desk before the sound of Eunji’s footsteps down the stairs pulled him from his thoughts. _

_ The sound of jingling keys danced in his ears... _

_ But something was wrong. _

_ He could feel it, more than anything, maybe he could hear it. _

_ The creak of the stairs had slowed, as though Eunji’s was being halted by time, and the twinkle of the keys had disappeared... There was the sound of wood splintering, and Eunji screamed so loudly  _ _ Yunho _ _ had managed to drop the squirming toddler on his arms. _

_ His niece let out a startled wail when he grabbed onto her by her upper arm before she could fall backwards and hit the floor with her head. _

_ “I’m sorry baby, I’m so sorry I didn’t mean it,” he hushed softly as he settled her properly before he would drop her again. _

_ Eunji screamed again, the sound so blood curdling that he felt nauseous, and the whole household was pushed into action. _

_ Yunho _ _ was halfway to the top of the stairs when a hollow banging noise stopped him dead in his tracks. _

\-----

Yunho bolted upright in a cold sweat, wild eyes swept over the dark room where he recognized nothing at all. 

The jingling sound of the keys caused the world around him to slow down.

“Eunji,” he whispered softly, panic creeping into his voice and he was on his feet in just seconds, rushing across the space of the room and ignoring the pain that shot up his calf when it collided with the wooden chest at the foot of the bed. 

A dull thud somewhere downstairs echoed in his ears, but nobody was screaming yet. So then... so maybe...

His feet practically glided over the steps as he rushed down them to find a tall figure standing in the dark.

“ _ Oh, you must be _ Yunho,” but he couldn’t hear anything, just the sound of his name.

But the voice wasn’t male, it was the panicked shriek of his sister trying to get him to move from the top of the stairs.

Yunho’s eyes had long since bled their darkness away, replaced by a golden hue. 

The figure was making noise again, but he was hearing none of it. His feet had propelled him forward and he hadn’t even realized he was nose to nose with the other man who had seemed pinned under his gaze.

The hands that had been pushing roughly at his shoulders had practically gone limp, but  Yunho wasn’t finished with him at all.

Elegant fingers curled tightly around the other’s neck and he could practically taste the dread wafting off of him. He was right though, to be afraid, but at least his friends had been clever enough not to return to his home.

They usually tried to run when the saw him. 

\-----

Changmin was home.  Jaejoong opened his eyes enough to listen for a moment, the sound of the keys pulled from the ignition and the soft click of the door shutting.  Footsteps over well-worn earth...

The sound of the keys hitting the table was all the blonde needed for his eyes to start drifting closed again. 

Junsu was awake still, he could hear the other shift slightly in his room, but he would wait for  Changmin to make it upstairs, as he always did. 

However,  Jaejoong’s eyes were opening again the second his eyelashes hit the tops of his cheekbones. 

Something was wrong.

The slow, steady rhythm of  Yunho’s breathing was gone, replaced by something else.  Jaejoong could practically feel him hyperventilating.

The sound of something colliding with the heavy wooden chest had the blonde sitting up right, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he pushed back his covers.

_ Oh, you must be  _ _ Yunho _ _. _

It was such a harmless, simple statement, and he could hear the exhaustion in  Changmin’s voice, he’d clearly not expected to be meeting the newest... and  Jaejoong had had no plans to introduce them without his  presence . 

He was halfway down the stairs with  Junsu rushing out of his room behind him when it had happened.

When  Yunho had moved in on and grabbed hold of  Changmin by the throat. 

It was fine, just as much as it wasn’t, until he’d seen the way  Changmin’s hands seemed to go limp against  Yunho’s shoulders, like he’d just resigned to let the teen crush his windpipe.

“Yunho,” Jaejoong practically barked, “Yunho let go.”

“Oh my...  Changmin !” was the immediate panicked yelp from  Junsu behind him, in his haste to get down the stairs the sky-haired man collided with his back and they both nearly went tumbling to the floor. Nearly, but  Jaejoong had remained upright for both of their sakes.

But  Junsu’s fear only seemed to feed into  Yunho’s sudden desire to kill, whereas  Changmin’s fear seemed to delight him.

“ Yunho ,”  Jaejoong hissed a second time, “That is  _ mine _ . Let go.”

It was only for a second,  Yunho faltered, his grip had gone slack long enough for  Changmin to gasp, and yet it was like the noise had snapped the thread of calm.

The teen had pulled the taller man’s body closer before slamming him back into the door and the sound of  Junsu growling behind him caused the blonde to step in front of him.

Junsu had let his wolf  out, a white and dark grey wolf with tinges of red fur and rich brown eyes, but he looked nothing like the mass of cuddly fluff  Jaejoong was used to.

There was going to be a massacre in the foyer in about 30 seconds.

“ Yunho ,” he called for the third time and  Jaejoong curled one arm around the teen’s waist, the other gripping tightly at a wrist as he pressed his thumb into a pressure point until  Yunho’s grip has  lessened . 

Just enough for  Changmin to break away, to dive to the floor and shield his head and throat with his arms and scrunched shoulders.  Junsu was with him immediately, standing over the limp form as his wolf with teeth bared.

“ Yunho , Yunho, it’s Jaejoong,” he murmured in his ear, but the teen was thrashing in his arms, attempting to break away by any means necessary.

The back of  Yunho’s skull collided with his cheek, causing him to groan, but it hadn’t yet seemed to snap the boy back into reality.

Swiftly blonde dropped his head forward, mouth opening and closing over a shoulder and he bit down hard until the coppery taste of blood overwhelmed his senses. It was only then that everything went still,  Yunho’s form jerked hard as though he’d suddenly been thrown back into his body, and he probably had been by his wolf, before he went slack in the alpha’s hold.

He would have hit the ground had  Jaejoong not had a tight hold on him.

Something wet dropped onto his arm as he kept it curled around the teen cautiously. 

He hadn’t needed to ask what it was, as immediately as  Junsu had let his wolf out, he was back, expression something of bewildered horror as he stared up  at he and  Yunho . Had it not been enough of a clue, the broken sob that wracked  Yunho’s body was one he felt before he heard.

“ Changmin -ah, still alive down there?”  Jaejoong asked cautiously, receiving only a cough and a nod, but it was enough for now, “Get him upstairs Su. Let me take care of this one first, and then I’ll come to see how you guys are.”

“ Changminnie ,” the sound of  Junsu’s soft whimper as the last thing he listened to as he half dragged  Yunho’s limp form up the stairs with him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I didn't want to kill Jihye so the character has a different name here.


	17. Fifteen

Junsu didn’t move.

He remained crouched down in front of  Changmin , arms spread out defensively in case anything, namely  Yunho , had tried to come running at them again.

Amongst the tussle, or rather the one-sided attack as he saw it, he’d turned the light on needing to see what was going  on .

Now under them he stared at the blonde alpha as he pulled  Yunho backwards up the stairs one at a time, his eyes trailed from the sheen of dampness that seemed to cover the teen’s body to the brilliant flow or crimson that waterfalled from his shoulder down to his back and chest. The ugly set of teeth marks stood out, already turning a harsh shade of purple.

Had  Jaejoong managed to blow one of  Yunho’s veins with the blunt of his teeth?

The sky haired man dry-heaved at the thought, firmly clamping his teeth together as he swallowed. 

It made  Junsu just a little nauseous whenever  Changmin told him stories about what he saw here and there at work, and though there was nothing particularly graphic about a bleeding bite mark there were some terms etched into his very brain forever and everything sounded  _ so _ much more disgusting that way. 

The sound of a door slamming upstairs snapped  Junsu out of his defensive stupor. He twisted his body around immediately, careful hands laying against  Changmin’s as he pried them away from the younger man’s head.

Changmin protested for only a second before cooperating, the nurse’s eyes were wide though, glazed over with  dilated pupils as though he’d seen a ghost.

Then again, didn’t they say people’s lives flashed before their eyes or something?

“ Changmin ,” he called softly, “Minnie I’m here.”

Gentle hands went pressed to the sides of the other’s face as he drew him into more of an upright position, but he made no attempt to bring either of them to their feet, not when  Changmin was visibly shaken.

He had seen the other at a fair few low points he’d always thought, but this... he wasn’t sure. He couldn’t recall the last time he had seen the other so afraid.

Maybe something pertaining to he or Jaejoong?

“It’s okay Minnie,” the sky haired man soothed and drew  Changmin into his chest in a tight hug so he could nuzzle into short dark locks and press a kiss to the top of his head, “I’ve got you.”

It felt like they sat there huddled together for ages as he rocked the two of them back and forth, whispering sweet nothing’s into the air before  Changmin found his voice properly.

“His eyes,” was the low whisper, and he could feel the shudder that ran through the taller man, “I couldn’t... do anything. Once he looked at me like that...”

\-----

He all but threw  Yunho onto his bed. It might have been a more intimidating action if met with some resistance, but it was more like the teen had slipped into a near catatonic state and was nothing more than a rag doll.

Yunho was surprisingly heavy that way, and there was something inherently awkward about carrying dead weight . Jaejoong had moved corpses more cooperative than Yunho was.

“Do you know what we do  _ not _ do in my house?”  Jaejoong stated, turning back to the door as he turned the dead bolt until it clicked, “We do not try and maul each other,  Yunho . I should rip your heart out for this.”

The tips of his fingers burned as he fingered the pure silver, grasping it properly to secure the security chain on the door. 

There were three doors in the house that were reinforced with steel and sets of silver locks. Two of them were in his bedroom and the third was down in the basement, a safe room of sorts.

None of the  other’s could handle the silver long enough to get themselves out, not without a serious amount of adrenaline pumping through their veins. It was perfect for keeping unwanted guests out... or, in as it were. 

Jaejoong had considered starting  Yunho in his room, or perhaps down in the basement where nobody would have been able to get to him. The basement had been the first idea out of the window- what if  Yunho hurt himself? He wouldn’t get there in time.

His room then...

He’d really thought, after having the other settle down that it wouldn’t be necessary. 

Changmin, he should have warned Yunho about how late  Changmin would get in... but then...

He’d warned them, hadn’t he?

Yunho would go off.  Yunho was dangerous, they wouldn’t know why or when...

But if something more serious had happened...

Nobody would have walked out unscathed.  Jaejoong would have burned everything down.

Once the second door that connected his room to the one  Yunho had been in was secured the blonde stepped into his bathroom.

“ But, I’m not going to hurt you this time, Yunho,” Jaejoong called from behind the slightly ajar door as he gathered several items in his hands, “I think you’ve suffered enough in your life time already. I must warn you though, I will not allow such outbursts if your intention is to maim or wound my pack.”

Something had obviously set the teen off, and the only thing he could do was blame himself perhaps. Maybe giving  Yunho the space to fess up on his own had been the wrong call, it wasn’t like he didn’t get it wrong sometimes.

The other was finally sitting up though, silent as death but his eyes followed the blonde around as  Jaejoong came to sit on the bed in front of him. 

“Take that shirt off, I need to patch you up before you bleed all over my sheets,” the blonde ordered softly, but he was pleased to see  Yunho comply, “You’re going to have to talk to me at some point...”

“I’m... sorry.”

It was a good start, if nothing else.  Jaejoong nodded once and he plucked he bloodied  tank top from  Yunho’s hold to fling It across the room. 

Yunho’s shoulder was first.  Jaejoong opened the first aid kit to pull out some antiseptic, tape and gauze pads. Wisely, he ignored the hiss of protest as he dabbed at the bloody imprint of teeth that marred  Yunho’s skin.

“I’ll talk first, then, hm?” was the offer as he carefully taped down the large bandage over the wound, “I don’t know what happened to you, and not making you tell me earlier was my mistake... This whole... ordeal is my fault, understand? I cannot protect you,  Yunho , if I don’t know what I need to save you from.”

Jaejoong had been worried, though. If he’d pushed too hard too fast  Yunho was going to bolt... If someone else stumbled across him... If he ran into one too many hunters...

“For the time being, you’re going to have to stay with me as much as possible. We’ll take things slowly, okay?”

All he could think about was the timing. What if he’d left  Yunho at home with  Junsu in the morning and something set him  off. What kind of scene would he have walked into?  Jaejoong hadn’t seen  Changmin freeze up like that in years.

Stacking the first aid  k it onto one of the night stands  Jaejoong climbed into bed properly, pushing the covers aside to slide under them. Against his better judgment, and yet knowing it was the best idea , he laid back into his pillows not quite on his side and not quite on his back  and pat the space next to him.

It was an offer and a command wrapped up in a single action.

Yunho stared hard at him for a second, and then slowly he looked away. Mo ve ment came just after as he slid into the space next to the blonde awkwardly.

“I prefer to be the little spoon,”  Jaejoong hummed with a grin despite the storm cloud in the room, “but given everything... I think you need to be held more than I do right now.”

Once  Yunho had laid down  Jaejoong curled an arm around him, drawing him closer until the teen’s back was properly flush against his chest.

“Talk to me,” he whispered softly, pressing his face into the back of  Yunho’s neck.

And just like that,  Yunho did.

The words came out slowly and he paused often, breathing through his memories as the blonde coddled him with soft touches and encouraging words.

They had been waiting for  Yunho’s brother-in-law,  Juwon to get back. His nephew’s favorite toy was in the car and he had come down with an ear infection, he’d been fussy all day.

Yunho’s sister, Eunji, had handed him his niece, their parents had been asleep already.

The siblings heard the car, Eunji went down stairs to greet her husband. It wasn’t her husband.

The door had been bashed in by the hunters,  Yunho couldn’t remember how many- just the way his sister screamed, the way his niece cried because he dropped her.

He froze at the top of the stairs; his mom and dad had been up and moving first rushing down the stairs where his sister had collapsed after she had been shot with a silver bullet. His nephew was screaming in terror, they shot  him, too .

His father had changed, so had his mother and they had managed to injure a couple of the men.

Yunho had grabbed his niece and bolted, hiding in one of the closets.

They had been searching for the two of them by the time  Juwon had finally arrived, and his brother had lost it walking in to  see  his wife and son dead in the foyer.

His niece had heard her father and had yelled for him, and then suddenly the closet they had been hiding in opened.

Yunho couldn’t remember what happened, just the sound of the little girl screaming for her mother and father. 

When he had come back to it everyone was dead.  Juwon hovering over his niece, her face was still wet with tears, eyes closed like she was  only  sleeping...

The hunter that had been in the room was dead too, and  Yunho had been covered in his blood. He’d dragged the man out into the woods and then he couldn’t remember anything else for a while.

Hunting down the others... going back to the house, pacing outside. Over and over until  Jaejoong had come along.

Yunho cried, long harrowing sobs that made  Jaejoong’s heart ache.

At some point the teen had shifted to face him instead, and he’d buried his face in the junction of the blonde’s neck and shoulder as tears soaked into the fabric of his shirt.

Yunho hadn’t heard or seen  Changmin , he’d told him while apologizing  profusely . 

He’d heard the car, the jingle of the keys and the sound of someone entering the house... and then he heard Eunji screaming.

Jaejoong soothed him the best he could, comforting touches and holding onto the other.

He didn’t protest as  Yunho squeezed him too tightly.

Eventually, what felt like hours later, the teen’s breath had finally evened out as he’d finally cried himself to sleep.

Jaejoong didn’t even think about getting up to go check on  Changmin and  Junsu like he was supposed to, they would survive until morning without him.

But he did press a kiss to the top of the teen’s head.


	18. Sixteen

There was something heavy and warm pressed against his chest and his left arm was completely numb sending pinprick sensations crawling over his skin.

It was almost a pleasant feeling to wake up to, not that  Jaejoong wanted to be awake. He could tell by where the streaks of warmth hit his skin that it was far too early in the day for him to bother existing, and yet he couldn’t find it within himself to keep his eyelids closed any longer.

What the hell was crushing him?

The blonde drew in a sharp breath, he squinted against the stream of sunlight that fell across his eyes and glanced down. He had half expected to find Changmin,  Junsu or the both of them in his bed. It wouldn’t have been the first time.

It was neither of them, though.

Before he could even blink the sleep from his  eyes reality crashed into him f ist first. Yesterday had felt exceptionally long, it almost threw him to consider the fact that he had a near strange r of not even twenty - four hours in his bed.

The elder council, the house, the forest, the body that had seemed half dead...

The hands around  Changmin’s throat was the last thing  Jaejoong pictured before he forced his eyes open wide once again. He could hear it though, the sound of  Yunho’s voice breaking as he recounted the demise of everyone he held dear to him, the way he hadn’t even recalled where he was when chaos had broken loose. 

So , he had brought him to his room, to his bed where he could keep them safe, all of them.  Changmin and  Junsu safe from  Yunho , and the teen safe from himself, from whatever demons his mind was trying to unleash to reality. 

Jaejoong could hear the faintest snore grumbling from the younger man, there was a faint damp spot against the fabric of his shirt from where he exhaled through an open mouth against his chest.

Disgusting, wasn’t it supposed to be? Someone was effectively drooling on him, and hadn’t he been far too tolerant of  Yunho’s body fluids already? 

Blood and tears, snot and now he was drooling too? There was probably supposed to be a line there, somewhere.

But he was a big, scary wolf, what harm were any of those things really?

With a little bit of  effort he bent the arm that was trapped under  Yunho’s body to curl it around him loosely. 

“ Yunho ,”  Jaejoong called, “Are you awake?”

Instinct told him to curl his fingers around  Yunho’s shoulder, to pull the other off enough that he could slip out of bed and make his way downstairs for coffee and maybe to begin breakfast. A dozen things that could go wrong if he left the teen alone in his room flashed through the alpha’s mind and he sighed.

Yunho needed the sleep just as much as he needed to get up and move around, and with them in a stalemate of needs...

“You’ve got an hour, brat,” he whispered the threat, but even the words felt soft in his mouth.

\-----

He was trying to recall a time in which he had slept in a bed that was more comfortable, but his mind didn’t seem to provide him with much of an answer.

Or, maybe he was just so tired any space would have done. He had been sleeping outside in the dirt after all... Yet that didn’t seem to be it either.

The room he’d been in, surely, he had fallen asleep there without  _ too _ much difficulty, but the hold of sleep on him had been fickle at best. Sleep had let go and watched him fall from a ledge back into wakefulness in the study far too easily.

He had attacked a member of the pack so graciously letting him stay until... well he wasn’t sure what the arrangement was fully, but it probably wouldn’t last long after...

Had he been elsewhere... anywhere else he wasn’t sure he would have been breathing any longer. If a guest had walked into the home he had grown up in and assaulted a member of his family... 

So then... why?

Why after everything had the blonde alpha hauled him up the stairs into his bedroom? Jaejoong was a mad man, he had to be, to witness such a thing and allow him to get away with it. To put him in a position where he could have caused even more trouble if his mind snapped again.

Jaejoong had held onto him, more tightly than necessary he’d tried to say, but the blonde had ignored him. Talk, had been the request... and so he had. Until his voice had broken and gone hoarse, until he had cried himself to sleep.

Despite that, there hadn’t been anything haunting him in the darkness.

Rather by the time his senses had started to return to him he found it was because the bed he found so comfortable kept... moving. 

Something brushed along his arm and the lull of half-asleep and half-conscious shattered just like that.

Yunho’s eyes snapped open, and the first thing he realized was that he had no real recollection of the room he was in. His heart lurched and raced in a fit of panic, like a bucket of ice water rained down over him suddenly, he let out a breath and it hurt, shuddering as his chest constricted.

His hands were pushing blindly at the surface under him. Eyes darting here and there and yet he felt like he wasn’t actually seeing anything.

And then something warm touched the side of his face and the teen flinched so violently, it felt like he’d just been punched. There was no blooming pain, just soft persistent warmth that stroked the side of cheek.

When he looked down his gaze was caught by pale blue, there was a glow to those eyes, so blue he was reminded me of pictures he’d seen online of some far away beach that didn’t look real. Those eyes took his breath away, and he gasped softly as they closed, but they were dark when they opened again.

Jaejoong. 

Jaejoong who had been pushing through his thoughts since he’d first laid eyes on the blonde.

Jaejoong was there under him, stroking his cheek, they were sharing a bed.

“Yunho?”

“Oh my god,” he rasped, chest heaving and he trembled, “Fuck.”

It all came flooding back, much more aggressively, more rapidly than the pieces of information floating to him in his sleep had. It was more overwhelming that way; his hands hurt, his head was throbbing, his throat burned and there was an incredible amount of pain in his shoulder. 

“Hey, hey,”  Jaejoong called, and when the teen hadn’t looked to him again the hand against his cheek slid backwards, fingers weaving through dark locks with a tug, “Don’t do that,  Yunho .  Don’t. You’re alright.”

\-----

“I called the hospital,” it was far from a proper  _ good morning _ ,  Junsu knew, but he also knew not every morning was a good one, “Told them you practically collapsed before you got in the door last night... You’ve got the next two days off at least...”

By then, hopefully, the ugly marks marring  Changmin’s throat would be mostly gone, if not completely then enough that they could dress it up with some concealer. Absently the sky haired man reached out, finger tips trailing across the bruises that had formed. They didn’t look nearly as gruesome as they would have had  Changmin been just a man... Then again, his windpipe probably would have been properly crushed and there wouldn’t have been a warm body sharing his bed.

Despite his efforts  Junsu couldn’t  suppress his shiver.

Bad things would happen, injuries, fighting... He had long ago given up his attempts to romanticize what had happened to him, what they all were. They were wolves, they were violent, wild animals. It wasn’t romantic, it wasn’t as though they had secret fan groups supporting their existence.

The opposite, rather. The hunter groups were rather brutal, taking pages right from old books about the witch trials. They acted without proof if their suspicions were tripped.  Jaejoong had gone on several trips to look at the messes made by hunters; it wasn’t uncommon for the alpha to return angry to report that there hadn’t been a single wolf present at the scene.

But when the  assailant was one of them? Someone inside of their home?

Yunho had seemed so normal, like he’d been completely unaffected by the fact that his life was in shambles. He was strange too, there was nothing normal away the way he looked at  Jaejoong , but it hadn’t been... threatening either.

If he trusted  Changmin’s worries though? Perhaps they were all in grave danger. The only person outside of the elder council he had ever seen able to make  Changmin bend to their will had been  Jaejoong , but last night he had been there- frightened to death almost literally, and it wasn’t the first time  Changmin had been flirting with death either he knew.

_ More dominant than Jaejoong? _

The words had just hung in the air in a strained whisper after  Junsu had asked, it had been the wrong question for  Changmin had not made a sound for the rest of the night...

If the nineteen year old boy could challenge their alpha...

“I’m an adult,”  Changmin retorted finally in lieu of a greeting, frown marring his features slightly, “Don’t you think it comes off as strange that one grown man is calling off for another?”

It wasn’t the first time, wouldn’t be the last and they both knew it. Sometimes  Junsu felt the need to step in, usually when that  happened he would go through  Jaejoong . The hospital director was a wolf, one that knew  Jaejoong very well and if the alpha called in and explained that his wolf needed time...

Junsu didn’t have that super power exactly, but he did have something close.

“No, I’m your fiance, remember?” Junsu grinned, not missing the way the younger man rolled his eyes at all.

“You’re still telling them that?”

“...Well, seeing how you have yet to tell them I am  _ not _ your fiance it would be kind of weird if I called in and claimed to be your cousin, right?”

Changmin shot him a glare, which sparked a grin onto his own face. Besting  Changmin with logic was only easy right after he woke up, before his brain could catch up and all.

There certainly were more pressing matters for them to discuss though and yet he wasn’t yet ready to repeat the question that had been ignored last night. Did  Changmin think their pack was in jeopardy if  Yunho stuck around? Was he ready to face  Yunho ? Was he scared of him?

If ever there was a topic that was  safe though, he certainly knew which one it was.

So despite the concerns he had,  Junsu sat up properly and stretched before he turned back to the other man, “What do you say we have dessert for breakfast?”


	19. Seventeen

“...Jaejoong-hyung... has work today,”  Junsu uttered hesitantly, looking up from one of the plates he was arranging.

Yunho’s hair was damp, there were a few beads of water that trailed down the side of his throat and slid until they soaked into his shirt. In the bright morning light, he didn’t look very intimidating; tanned skin, tall but not taller than  Changmin , his eyes were dark but they didn’t seem overly cold... Nothing like a madman that could snap and try to murder someone without a reason.

Neither did he look like the lost little puppy that  Jaejoong cooed about. It was quite something, in the years he had been with  Changmin and  Jaejoong he had never heard the alpha talk about someone he had picked up quite like he had spoken of  Yunho . 

He was looking into it too much,  Changmin insisted... but he didn’t think so. They needed to be critical of  Yunho \- of his behavior. Being alone in a room that technically housed several types of weapons was far from comfortable, but the last thing he needed was to go barreling up the stairs yelling for the others.

Changmin and  Jaejoong were in the shower. He had been amused at first how their schedules had lined up. He had heard the water turning off in  Jaejoong’s room just as he had been stepping into the hall in a towel, but he honestly hadn’t expected  Yunho to be the first to join him in the kitchen.

Jaejoong was the preferable one. Alpha was the safe bet as a just in case. Yet the moment he crumbled and let in on the fact that he was at  least a little frightened and a lot concerned about being around the new wolf...

No, he wanted to trust  Jaejoong . A monster had not been invited into their home...

Yunho was looking at him properly now, eyes slightly narrowed as though he wasn’t sure what to make of  Junsu , and then his expression seemed to soften, except the smirk clinging to the edges of  Yunho’s mouth was not soft at all, “I know he does.”

“Ch- Changmin and I will be home today,” he hated it, the single hiccup in his voice that betrayed exactly how he felt about the knowledge that the three of them would be alone together.

Maybe he and  Changmin would just stay upstairs... with the door locked. Not that a locked door would stop an angry wolf for long but...

The teen was close suddenly, too close and the sky haired man flinched and took a step backwards, the action seemed amusing if he was judging by the way  Yunho chuckled. The whole situation was quickly working  Junsu’s nerves though, where did  Yunho get off in this? He should have been distressed,  groveling for forgiveness after what he had done.

Yet he couldn’t unhear  Changmin’s voice in his head. If he couldn’t do anything...

“I’m going with Jae,  Junsu-ssi ,” the teen explained suddenly, and there was a softness to his voice that was more startling than his behavior was, he sounded giddy almost, but then his voice  took on a solemn edge, “Last night... My mind was not in this house at all, I do not mean any harm to your pack.  Jaejoong suggested I take the time today to figure out a way to apologize.”

Which meant bribery,  Junsu knew. The blonde would probably stop on the way home, pick up their favorite food for dinner and whatever else he came up with, they would suffer through some awkward family-but-not-family-because- Yunho -wasn't-family dinner... 

Perhaps it had just been too long since someone new had been around, all new wolves came with problems in their pack... But none of them had ever gone after  Changmin before.

Maybe he felt a little bit put out that  Jaejoong hadn’t punished  Yunho more harshly... Yet as the thought crossed his mind his eyes dropped to the edge of the bandage peeking from under  Yunho’s collar, and he tried hard to remember what he’d heard of the teen. His whole family had been slaughtered, and  Yunho had been there to witness it...

Patience, understanding...  Junsu was trying yet it was infinitely more difficult to try when the situation involved the  nurse he realized. Not only Changmin, either... the teen definitely had a weird fixation on their alpha, switching their drinks and everything yesterday... feeding Jaejoong something he knew he didn’t like... And the way the alpha allowed those things...

If he tried to, he supposed he could argue that  Jaejoong was always lenient when he found someone new... He hadn’t been around for the  _ Changmin _ _ thing _ , but he had heard enough of the gory details from both sides to feel nauseous just thinking about it. 

Technically... nobody had really been wounded, right? Just... shaken up, it was probably worse because of a stressful day at work. The logical part of his brain grasped the situation perfectly; understood that he was probably as close to a pacifist wolf as there ever would be, that the aversion he had to violence was not a common one among their kind. 

There was no reason for  Junsu to be  _ angry _ at  Yunho following the apology. Apprehensive, sure, but he was furious and it wasn’t fair to the teen.

Knowing that didn’t make  Junsu rational though, because the emotional side of his  subconscious was kicking and screaming.

“Unacceptable,” Junsu therefore cut in with a shake of his head.

It was a reaction that was unexpected though, judging only by the way the pleasant expression dropped suddenly from  Yunho’s face, replaced with something blank.  Junsu wanted to shake him, wanted to throw things, but the blood seemed to freeze in his veins when the teens eyes narrowed into a glare.

The sky haired man practically choked on the breath he took and the silence between them was tense. Tense until  Yunho cocked his head, chin held high defiantly as though beckoning him to continue.

“You... you can’t just... waltz in here and put your hands on my family,” he couldn’t just pretend it hadn’t happened, “I think you need our help,  Yunho , you need... guidance. But if you so much as lay a hand on Cha-”

“Ah,” the interruption was a single sound, and the sneer vanished from the teen’s features just like that, another face of the  Rubik's cube was present, the pleasant expression was back, “ Changmin is yours, isn’t he? Your mate...”

Something about the term always sounded so... primitive to  Junsu . It sounded dirty, almost. Boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, partner... As a civilized person  _ mate _ just sounded so... inappropriate, and he flushed at how quickly the teen had seemed to grasp  the situation .

Not that it was a secret, he was proud of  Changmin and spoiled by the nurse’s willingness to stand by him through anything but... to strangers? To hear it so casually without knowing what sort of reaction he would receive? It wasn’t safe.

His breath had gone shallow, short pants as he attempted to calm the way his heart was racing. 

There were no rules, there was nothing  _ against  _ a pair or men or women being mates, but it was far from common, slightly taboo. In the case of men, it could very well be the end of a bloodline, without an actual blood heir... and they didn’t tend to step out on their mates, it just didn’t happen. So sure, nobody was technically  _ allowed _ to maim him for being gay but that meant very little about what would actually happen.

Wolves, he’d realized, were far worse than people in that sense... and after what had happened with his family,  Junsu knew exactly how horrible people could be. He didn’t quite have the resolve to run head first into these things.

Yunho seemed to recognize his incoming panic attack as well because there were somewhat rough hands gripping his shoulders suddenly, shaking him just enough for his head to snap upwards to meet the teen’s gaze.

Yunho had flip-flopped again, hopping from amusement to indifference to annoyance and back again. There was something soft in the teen’s gaze now though, and if he hadn’t seen it, hadn’t heard about what  Yunho had done he would have never believed he could have harmed a fly.

“It’s okay,  Junsu-ssi ,” the voice was deep and soothing, and  Yunho seemed so relieved  Junsu could practically taste it, he was intoxicated by the feeling, it calmed him, “I thought Jae and... I’m glad. You two are a lovely couple and I am very sorry that I stepped out of bounds with your mate.” 

The touch didn’t linger, the sound of stairs barely creaking had seemed to shatter the moment because  Yunho let go of him and moved away as though they hadn’t been having a conversation at all. 

Yunho played through emotions the way a gambler ran through poker chips and it terrified him.

\------

“It is far too much of an emotional  trainwreck in here,” was the announcement  Jaejoong entered the kitchen with, “What are you fighting about?”

There were two plates sitting on the island counter, stacked with slices of cake, macarons and fruit by the looks of it, he cringed. What was the point of adding fruit just to coat it in powdered sugar? He would never understand, much less why any of that was even there at... ten something in the morning.

Two sets of eyes shifted to the blonde, and he merely raised a questioning brow, one man glanced away passively and the other stubbornly held his gaze. Held it until his eyes traveled downwards, and Jaejoong rolled his own.

It was almost like he was dressed provocatively; except he wasn’t dressed any differently than any day he had work, distressed black skinnies and a thin white graphic tee that fit him very well. There was no reason for  Yunho to eye him the way  Changmin looked at desserts. 

Or  Junsu .

“Well?” he pressed, impatient that the only voice he heard was his own.

Jaejoong only gave it thirty seconds, and when neither body had spoken  up he scoffed. It was like being a kid all over again, all of the times he had accidentally interrupted his sisters arguing amongst themselves, god forbid they continued whatever argument it had been when there was an outside witness, wouldn’t want a reasonable voice added to the mix and all.

At the same time, whatever struggle there was, he wouldn’t allow it, couldn’t.

So he sidled his way over to where  Yunho stood, pressed himself into the teen’s side and draped one of his arms over a shoulder.  Yunho tensed under him for about three seconds and then he relaxed, thirteen seconds after that there was an arm locked around  Jaejoong’s waist, fingers brushing over his hip. Who looked more surprised, he wondered, himself or Junsu?

Junsu , for sure, the barista looked properly scandalized, just like the first time he had walked in to find he and  Changmin holding a conversation while the nurse was watching porn on his laptop.

“ Junsu is upset with me,”  Yunho caved first, “because he thought they would be stuck with me today...”

“That’s not...”

“...and because I hurt his mate,” came the finish despite the attempted interruption, “so I let him know I was going to work with you today so I had time to figure out how to make it up to them.”

The sound of  Junsu protesting weakly to  Yunho’s explanation fell on deaf ears.  Jaejoong glanced from the sky haired man to the teen and back again before a smile settled over his features.

“You told  Yunho about you and  Changmin ? That’s amazing,  Su -ah,” the blonde praised gently.

He expected  Junsu to protest more, to argue about something or other. Instead  Junsu had picked up both plates and had practically sprinted out of the kitchen and once the sound of his footsteps disappeared into the carpet upstairs there was the faint noise of a slamming door.

“He seems... horrified. Did I say something wrong?”

Jaejoong made a move to step back and properly separate from  Yunho , but the other seemed to be having none of it. Fingers pressed tighter into his hip and  Yunho turned his head to stare at him inquisitively, it was as though his eyes asked only one question:  _ Where do you think you’re going _ ?

He glared, but  Yunho didn’t seem to waver at all, didn’t seem to care that he’d ignored the silent command that it was time to let go. The alpha’s wolf glowered for a moment, and then quieted down to  Jaejoong’s surprise.

Lamb didn’t like being tested, and yet he couldn’t be bothered suddenly.

Before he could delve any further into it the hand dropped from around him, and then in a sugary, almost teasing voice  Yunho spoke again, “ Jaejoong ? I asked if I did something wrong?”

Yunho had, and they both knew he had, but it had very little to do with Junsu.

So  Jaejoong simply moved away, finding an empty space on the counter to sit on, although if anyone else would have pulled such a stunt he would have thrown a fit.

“ Junsu was brought up in a pretty strict environment,” the blonde began he glanced up just to make sure he had  Yunho’s attention, “Religious parents, they couldn’t really see past what the church thought for the sake of their son. He tried to repress who he was for a long time to prove he wasn’t someone they needed to be ashamed of.”

It wasn’t his story to tell, he knew it and  Yunho knew it as well, just the way the teen had glanced away said enough. They were impeding into something very personal, something that was supposed to come from  Junsu and not his alpha, not his adopted  umma ... But  _ umma-Jaejoong _ knew  Junsu too well, he wouldn’t open up to  Yunho soon enough to keep the teen from accidentally hitting a nerve or four. If the sky haired man ended up with hurt feelings someone else would end up physically hurting by the time  Changmin caught wind of it.

Really, he was just cutting out the middleman for the sake of peace.

“When he was turned he told his family,”  Jaejoong continued, “They had him institutionalized and he stayed in the system until he was eighteen, disowned him when he left that wretched place.”

He’d never had the displeasure of stumbling across  Junsu’s family, but he knew they still lived somewhere in Seoul. There were certain areas the  sky haired man flat out refused to go anywhere near,  Jaejoong had stopped trying to make him.

“And then he met you?”  Yunho guessed.

“No.  Junsu was in a different pack, one that had a lot of naturally born wolves like you and I. Once it came to light that  Junsu liked men...”

“Most packs like that would have just killed him.”

“They gave him a head start,”  Jaejoong noted with a bitter smile, eyes glazing over slightly, “ Changmin and I were on our way to visit my family, I damn near ran him over, he just darted into the road out of nowhere... And then...”

The alpha trailed off, his gaze was far away as he slipped back into his memory of that day and it replayed all too vividly before his eyes. His breathing went slightly ragged and for a moment  Jaejoong’s eyes slid closed.

He’d heard the steps approach more than saw them, head cocked to one side as something- someone pressed against his knees. Warm fingers pressed against the side of his face and he leaned into the touch, it was comfortable.

“I don’t have anything against men mating with each other,”  Jaejoong had expected as much, if only because there had been nothing broken, had been no surprise fist fight, “What did you do to the wolves chasing him? Even if they were hunting him, they wouldn’t just hand him over.”

The blonde couldn’t hold onto heavy feelings, not so early in the morning so he exhaled slowly.  Yunho was staring when his eyes opened again,  Yunho seemed to stare a lot, especially when he thought  Jaejoong wasn’t paying attention.

Right now, the teen seemed far too curious to hear a tale ending in bloodshed, and though he was tempted to humor the both of them he shook his head instead.

“Who knows where you fit in here,” the alpha started, catching Yunho’s wrist to nudge it away, “I’d like you to stay... but not if you keep tormenting my wolves. You don’t have a rank to pull, Yunho, do not do it again, hm?”

He hadn’t expected  Yunho to respond, so he didn’t press, rather he glanced toward the clock and then sighed.

“Alright, we’ll grab breakfast while we’re out. We should get going now.”


	20. Eighteen

They had arrived at Café  J-holic , which the blonde owned, and it was hardly a surprise the way the employees inside seemed to light up at the visit. Everything inside the cafe felt modern and sleek, from the art hung around the space to the layout of the floor, and yet there was something about the space that felt bizarre while openly arguing about its normalcy at the same time.  Somehow he felt like he’d fallen down the rabbit hole into wonderland.

_ Order whatever you like _ had sounded pointless, until  Yunho’s eyes had landed on a glass display counter that housed far too many different desserts for him to choose from.

The smart choice would be to order everything, and if he was thinking about the sticky caramel cake from last night, he knew that was the best idea he had had all week was to order three of those. The look of apprehension of  Jaejoong’s face stopped him, sadly.

Yunho had opted to settle his sweet tooth with a coffee cake muffin and a slice of strawberry shortcake with extra strawberries on top.  Jaejoong had ordered the  _ usual _ and a cinnamon coffee for  Yunho who had asked for a recommendation.

The usual was apparently just an Americano with an extra shot of espresso or two.

Needless to say, the teen was not pleased when everything had been set in front of them at the  table he had  led the blonde to by the window. 

“Aren’t you going to  _ eat _ ?”  Yunho pressed, picking up a delicate looking fork and watching in proper delight as it dropped so easily through the strawberry cake, “You said you would have breakfast with me.”

Something clattered to the floor nearby, too close and the teen looked up to find a very nervous looking young woman. She crouched down quickly to gather the bundles of silverware she had dropped and the shade of red on her face was easy to note.  Jaejoong was staring at her too, with a barely-there frown marring his features.

Eavesdropping then, she had gotten caught listening in on her boss and his companion, but the alpha didn’t say a word to acknowledge her. 

She wasn’t a wolf,  Yunho realized after he pulled his eyes away, in fact, besides he and  Jaejoong there didn’t seem to be another wolf on the property. He could smell them though, faintly,  Junsu and someone else that probably worked there. 

The blonde merely lifted his cup and stared into it for a moment before he tipped it forward in a mock toast, “this  _ is _ breakfast,  Yunho -yah. But I usually take it to go.”

Had his fork not disappeared into his mouth, had he not been moaning softly at the taste of light sponge cake, strawberry and vanilla cream he would have started nagging. Coffee wasn’t breakfast, cake arguably wasn’t either but at least it was  _ something _ edible, and his muffin- muffins were breakfast food! 

“ _ No _ ,”  Yunho was mumbling before he could stop himself, it came out just a bit more firmly than he had intended, a command without actual instruction attached.

It was enough though, enough for the blonde’s head to snap up with his eyes narrowed into a glare,  Jaejoong’s hand froze halfway to his mouth, he remained still for just a couple of seconds before bringing the cup to his lips. There was something about the action, normal as it was that  _ felt _ defiant and  Yunho nearly glared himself.

He wasn’t supposed to. He was not a part of  Jaejoong’s pack, as a lone wolf he supposed that meant he was technically outmatched, that if he didn’t proceed cautiously and he challenged the alpha it wouldn’t go well for him. Except... he didn’t really believe it much.

This alpha was strange, the least intimidating looking and yet most deadly thing he had come across in a long time.

_ We’re allowed to tell him what to  _ _ do, _ Wolf encouraged in the back of his mind,  _ He would not listen, otherwise. He would want to fight us. _

“ _ No _ yourself,  Yunho ,”  Jaejoong huffed, though his annoyance sounded superficial at best, “Do you want to spend the day with me or locked in the car? Behave your-”

Halfway through  Jaejoong’s ranting a thought had streaked through  Yunho’s mind, curiosity egged on by his wolf with memories of dinner last night.  Jaejoong did not like sweet things, did not eat them with his weirdly clingy packmates. But  Yunho , his wolf pointed out, hadn’t he fed him anyway? 

Didn’t that mean he could order the blonde alpha about?

Wasn’t the alpha technically allowing it? They were equals then, weren’t they? Despite his lone status. 

Which had been why he’d speared a piece of cake and a bit of strawberry onto his fork, and as the alpha was threatening to leave him behind or lock him in the  car he’d pushed the fork into his open mouth. 

And  _ oh _ , the flabbergasted expression on  Jaejoong’s face was breathtaking. The teen nodded silently, encouragingly and he didn’t bother to hide the wide smile that settled on his face when the bite was not spit out. 

“See? Not so bad, right?”

Not so bad, though  Jaejoong almost looked like he was in pain as he chewed and swallowed the cake, or maybe he looked horrified for a different reason,  Yunho wasn’t sure.

“It... is too early in the morning to be eating cake,” the alpha stressed, leaning back in his seat when the fork was held out again, an offer that time.

“Fine, no cake,” Yunho agreed, he didn’t actually mind not sharing his cake with the blonde.

Perhaps before they  left he would ask them to pack him a whole damn cake and then he would spend his day eating it.

In the  meantime though, his focus rounded back to the pretty alpha. The paper wrap was plucked from the muffin and then tossed aside onto his plate and for the third time  Yunho was leaning across the table, holding the baked good to  Jaejoong’s mouth with eager, expectant eyes.

“I said-”

“This is a muffin, boo, not a cake,” came the interruption, and though he might have imagined it for a split second he was pretty sure the blonde’s eyes had gone impossibly wide before narrowing, “Come on,  _ eat _ .”

Somehow, he was pretty sure he could get used to watching  Jaejoong do as he said. Watching the man crumble to his whims was practically heavenly. It was absolutely childish perhaps, but so far it was definitely his new party trick.

\-----

He was pouting and he hated it. Hated even more that despite being aware of the purse of his lips and the eyes that kept looking him over he was unable to correct the expression. 

In a café full of patrons and employees,  _ his _ employees he had been told off and fed like a child. At no point had he sprung to his feet and stormed out, neither had he firmly told  Yunho to fuck off which would have effectively ended the entire ordeal too. He had sat well behaved, but sort of sulking, and opened his mouth when prompted because Yunho had so ordered him.

Fuck  Yunho .

Funny, how often those two words seemed to come together in another way in his mind. A smug voice around the edge of his conscious had  Jaejoong inhaling sharply before his thoughts wandered any further. It was ridiculous, everything was ridiculous. 

Yunho was a damned brat, and though he would take this slightly terrifying and oddly chipper iteration of him over the one trying to crush windpipes,  Jaejoong didn’t know how he felt about being the object of focus. 

He had expected Lamb to be far more irritated, to justify how unsettled he was, but his wolf had remained calm, curious instead. 

_ He tried to kill  _ _ Changmin _ _ last night, you’re being just as bi-polar as this asshole, Lamb. _

There was an indignant huff that rolled through the recesses of his mind, and  Jaejoong’s fingers curled tightly around the steering wheel of his car. 

They were one, and they always had been, he was pretty sure there was nothing his wolf could hide from him, nothing he could hide from the animal either... and yet it felt as though Lamb knew something he didn’t. Like somehow,  Jaejoong had missed some glaringly obvious signal that the wolf refused to point out for him just to watch him stumble around like a fool for a while. 

“How old are you  again? 30? 40?”  Yunho’s voice was like an ice pick driving right into his ear drum, or perhaps it was just the question- the insult of it that found the blonde flinching.

He was going to tear the steering  column out of the car and beat  Yunho to death with it.

It probably wasn’t meant as an insult, he knew. After a while the aging process crawled to a practical halt, and wolves lived for a  _ very  _ long time. He could have been close to a hundred and looked just about the same. But he was not, he was not  _ old _ .

“Older?”

Jaejoong did growl at that, a low animalistic snarl in the back of his throat as he slammed down on the brakes of the car. He was only slightly more than satisfied when  Yunho , who had refused to put on his seat belt, lurched forward into the dashboard. The teens eyes were wide when he looked over, mouth slightly agape at the fuming blonde.

It definitely did not bring him great satisfaction to punch  Yunho in the arm. It had not felt like heaven when Yunho grunted despite his efforts not to make a noise, and he certainly did  _ not _ feel a flicker of guilt or panic when  Yunho’s gaze looked suspiciously watery as it narrowed into a glare.

_ He is injured, you are cruel. _ Lamb drawled through his thoughts, and  Jaejoong felt cold suddenly, like someone had poured ice water over him.

There was a problem, wasn’t it, when the beast raging within him was not the wolf that  inhabited his mind.

The sound of the car door slamming shut snapped the blonde from his own headspace. He watched  Yunho through the windshield as he stomped through the parking lot toward the only store front that was not yet lit up.

Mirotic was a white building constructed of glass and just about every white material he had been able to get his hands on. It was incredibly modern looking, everything inside shiny and polished with dark flooring, he wanted it to feel like a spa, not just any other establishment people strolled into to be branded permanently with ink. His family was rich from old money, his sisters ran a successful multi-media company, he owned a popular café and then there was the bar... 

Mirotic was his third business venture, after he had spent the last ten years working his way up from an apprentice in someone else’s shop to being an artist there, he had wanted his own space to call home. He had been tattooing officially for five years already and  Mirotic had opened its doors nearly a year ago.

With a sulking teenager glaring at him from the shop front  Jaejoong realized it definitely felt like home.


	21. Nineteen

Was he 30? 

Was he  _ 50 _ ?

Age typically had never been a sensitive subject to him, the people around him tended to be within a few years of himself and those that held a larger difference tended to be older. Save for his niece who was still in her single digit years,  Yunho was the youngest person around him.

They were only six years apart, that wasn’t anything at all, and yet it had struck a chord within him, and it had struck hard.

What was he too old for  Yunho ? Too old for  _ what _ ? The damned brat refused to call him  hyung , and one of them would walk away bleeding before he ever allowed the use of  ahjussi . It wouldn’t be  Jaejoong who was bleeding then.

He was practically at his wits end. They had made it all the way home; they had made it through a night from hell that had started with cake and ended with attempted murder and it had been fine. He had been able to absorb Yunho’s overwhelming mood swings with a smile on his face and a steady, calm aura and they had been making progress, he thought.

But this,  _ this _ was going to undo him?  Jaejoong was going to have a mental breakdown because  Yunho called him old? Because he was too old for  Yunho ? What was he too old for, again?

He held his keys tightly in one fist after he snatched them from the ignition, squeezing until the jagged teeth bit into the palm of his hand.  Jaejoong held until something gave way under the sheer force of his will and he was not surprised to find it had been the skin of his palm that broke first, not the metal key. He was a wolf after all, not superman.

“Way to go, idiot, you have a client today,” the blonde scolded himself, fingers uncurling as he observed the crimson pool puddling in his hand, painting the shiny keys red.

Drawing in a shaky breath he  slid out of the car, slamming it closed with a bit too much force behind him.

_ You still do not understand. _ Lamb was taunting him, he nearly growled.

Yunho’s eyes were on him as he approached, sharp and somewhat weary,  Jaejoong looked away first.

Brushing off the shop key against the denim covering his thigh he pressed it into the lock, twisting until something clicked and then he was tapping a set of numbers into the keypad on the door.

“Hey I need you to-”

“You’re bleeding,”  Yunho cut in sharply, too close suddenly for  Jaejoong could feel warm breath dancing over the nape of his neck.

He didn’t shiver, but he did swallow hard when his eyes fluttered closed seemingly of their own accord. They were open again in a fraction of a second when fingers closed around his wrist to pry his hand away from the  door handle he had been gripping too tightly, his fingers curled into a fist the second  Yunho had managed to detach him from the smooth metal.

“Jaejoong...”

It struck him then, suddenly, the way his name sounded so soft from  Yunho’s mouth, but it didn’t match the cold fury that radiated from the teen. 

The fingers circling his wrist squeezed suddenly, closing so tightly he could feel the tremor as it crawled up the teen’s arm. For a  second he thought it comical, was the brat going to try and scold him? Yet when the grip didn’t loosen the feel of  Yunho’s chest pressed against his back began to feel overwhelming as pain pulsed through him. 

“You’re going to break my wrist,”  Jaejoong hissed quietly, “Let go of me, Yunho... I’m sorry I hit you, okay?”

The blonde jerked his arm somewhat, it was the first move he had made in an attempt to pull free, but it had been enough,  Yunho’s grip went slack and fingertips rubbed gently where the bruises would bloom on his skin later. As tempted as he was to drive his elbow back into the other body and shake the teen away from touching him  entirely, he forced himself to remain still.

He was fine,  Jaejoong told himself; he was not being emotional or irrational, he was not confused about his wolf pushing him out and keeping a secret from him,  that was not driving him mad at all, and he certainly, most definitely did not feel like  Yunho’s touch was burning him alive. His wrist ached, so it was only natural the continued contact, gentle as it was, would cause a reaction. 

“Sorry... I just... sorry,”  Yunho whispered just behind his ear, “You’re bleeding why would you-”

“I’m going to need you to help me clean up, body fluids are a health code violation, hm?”

Jaejoong used the words to remind himself what they were doing- what he was doing. This was his office, his work place, he was supposed to meet with a client in the afternoon. It was with a fragile, but newfound, resolve that he rolled his shoulders, carefully nudging himself away from the teen’s form enough to pull the door of  Mirotic open so they could step inside. 

The first thing he did was make his way toward the supply closet, the second thing he tried to do was ignore how impossibly close  Yunho was lingering.

“Let me help you,” came the words, and the next thing  Jaejoong knew he had been nudged out of the way.

He stood gaping, jaw unhinged and eyes too wide as he watched  Yunho rummage through his things, the urge to punch him was back again, but it was an instinct he ignored.

Instead of making himself feel better for about a second just to be riddled with guilt after, the alpha made his way over to one of the sleek leather chairs he tended to his clients in. 

Jaejoong laid his arm over one of the rests, palm facing up to the ceiling as he waited. The skin of his wrist was a vibrant shade of red and he could already imagine the brilliant tones of purple that would push through in a couple of hours. 

\------

Yunho inhaled sharply.

The coppery scent lingered in the air, snaking through his senses. It pulled his mind apart, backwards to his home and yet jerked him forward with something distinctly sweet that he had never encountered before. It made his teeth ache with a strange desire to bite, to taste.

He wasn’t a leech, they didn’t feast on blood for the sake of it, though they were hardly strangers to the crimson liquid. Every kill tended to be messy, and he couldn’t imagine a wolf shying away from a mess.

Somehow, it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t the desire to hunt and or kill, but his teeth ached all the same.

He was angry though.

Why?

He had been very tempted, fingers itching to grip onto the blonde and shake him until he was satisfied. He had been fine in the car, so why had he been hurt after he stepped out?  Yunho’s mind wasn’t that slow of course, he understood how it happened, what had happened, but he did not know what  Jaejoong took away from injuring himself.

Surely they could withstand more than humans, they would heal a deal faster, but wounds still lingered and bruises took time to fade. The full moon helped, changing forms helped, but there were going to be ugly scabs marring the alpha’s palm for a few days at least.

_ And you marked him, too _ . 

He cringed inwardly at Wolf’s reminder. There was part of him that wanted to argue it was only fair, that he was riddled with cuts and bruises and a nasty scabbing set of teeth marks from the alpha put them on even playing ground, but he also knew it wasn’t the same.  Jaejoong hadn’t attacked him, exactly, he had stepped in when he had been out of his right mind.

By any means necessary was the way alphas protected their pack, it was practically a miracle that he was still breathing. 

Jaejoong had promised to protect them, to protect  _ him _ , and  Yunho wanted to keep the blonde close. He wanted to possess him, to own him.

It was that simple, wasn’t it? Yet the realization hit him like a brick wall. Was it really so simple? He wanted to own  Jaejoong , to keep him?

“Yah! Still bleeding over here,” the voice snapped  Yunho from his own thoughts as they  spiraled , and there was a sense of alarm that sprung to life within him for a beat or two.

Alcohol pads, tape and gauze were piled into his hold as he stepped away from the closet a bit more urgently than necessary as a sense of panic scratched at his insides.

As he spun on his heel though he was greeted by the sight of Jaejoong, stretched out along a leather chair and staring at him with a lazy tilt of his head. He didn’t look like he was in danger at all, and as  Yunho’s eyes flickered from the blonde’s face to his hand he realized it was because he wasn’t.

It was just a minor flesh wound, after all, a break in skin that would cause bleeding because... of course it would. There was probably some proper medical or scientific explanation behind the phenomenon he could have used to make himself sound smart but who was he trying to impress?

_ He would not be very impressed. _

“Alright Wolf, thanks, got it,”  Yunho griped quietly to himself, he nearly rolled his eyes.

On his way his foot caught onto a rolling chair, nudging it across the floor to where  Jaejoong had settled himself. Only then did he glance around the shop, but it wouldn’t be until later than he allowed himself to admire the clean, chic space or find himself marveled to realize all of the art pieces hanging up were done by the pretty man.

For  now he was busy, and his first order of business had been to drop the things he brought along in  Jaejoong’s lap. There was nothing heavy there, but the way the alpha grunted and then glared at him suggested otherwise.

“Don’t worry, I’ll kiss it better,” came  Yunho’s promise with a wide grin.

\------

“Sooo...”

Changmin had two options sitting in front of him; he could ignore his mate attempting to engage him in some kind of nonsensical conversation or he could simply get it  over with . 

He was really tempted to brush it off, to pretend the movie they were watching was too engrossing for him to look away or hear any kind of outside force, if only because he was pretty sure he knew where their conversation would be headed. Surely what else did they have to talk about other than their alpha, his new pet and what it would mean for them long term considering what had happened.

Ideally, he would have been able to play it off as a moment of weakness, a particularly stressful day at work had left him emotionally charged and exhausted and that was the only reason he had been caught off guard and over powered by a stray that was apparently a handful of years younger than the lot of them. That was partially true, his mental state hadn’t helped him but neither had it been such a  hindrance to register him unable to function.

The way he froze up, the way he shut down had been a different issue entirely. Once the initial shock of having the wolf jump on him had passed it had been the look in his eyes, the stifling feeling of dominance rolling from the stray that had kept him still. It was there in a flash, just for a half second, a glint of gold in  Yunho’s eyes that told him everything.

If he fought, if he tried to challenge him it would all be over right then and there. 

In that half second  Changmin had come to a horrific realization; never had there been a moment when in a single glance, for just a fraction of a second had his alpha ever been that terrifying. He already could not challenge the blonde, so what was he going to do- what could any of them do if  Jaejoong couldn’t stand up to  Yunho either? 

He fought the shudder that rolled through him, but not well enough because he could feel a hand slide across his shoulders.

Jaejoong had managed to break the situation apart, it had only taken him a moment to get a hold of  Yunho and pull him away, and he had been able to feel the way a calm had settled over the house like a blanket on a cold night. He could still feel it now, long after both alpha and stray had left the house that morning. 

“ So when we get married, I think you should take my last name, Kim  Changmin sounds cute, right?”

He could hear it, the sound of his mate’s voice forming words and talking at him, but Changmin wasn’t focused enough to pick up much beyond his name. Of course Junsu would be talking to him though, probably asking if he was feeling alright, which was why he nodded with a noise in the back of his throat. He was fine, much better than last night at least.

“What about borrowing handcuffs from Matt? I mean, it’s not exactly my cup of tea but would you like me to restrain you the next time I fuck you?”

Again Changmin nodded, staring blankly at the television as he watched a lady spin around as she sang about... something or other. 

It was only seconds after silence had lapsed and  Junsu’s hand had stilled on his back that he realized he had no idea what they were talking about.

“What?” he tried not to sound alarmed as he glanced over at the sky haired man who wore a Chesire grin on his face.

“Oh? Does that mean you don’t want to be hand cuffed to the headboard when I have my way with you?”

“ _ What _ ?”  Changmin really wished that hadn’t come out sounding so much like a squeaking mouse.

Junsu stared at him, his eyes were wide and his mouth was open like he couldn’t decide if he was trying to smile or just gape at him, and then after another beat the man was practically doubled over laughing.

“I... I am having a  _ crisis _ over here and all you can think about is fucking me? Really Kim  Junsu you should be ashamed-” 

At that point, Junsu had cupped both hands over his face in an attempt to stifle his laughter, it was not working. For that reason, Changmin didn’t feel the least bit guilty for shoving him right off the edge of the sofa, in fact the soft thud of Junsu hitting the floor was extremely satisfying.

Or, it had been until there was a hand gripping the front of his shirt. 

The next thing  Changmin knew he was jerked from his seat, and he barely had time to get one hand to the floor so he could sort of catch himself as he landed on top of his mate. 

Junsu wasn’t cackling any longer, instead there were arms curling  determinedly around his waist and dark eyes watching him as though demanding entry into his soul.

“Now tell me, Minnie, what is going on in that brilliant mind of yours?”


	22. Twenty

Jaejoong could feel a migraine coming on. 

The past five days had been hectic and stressful and every time it felt like they were taking some kind of step forward something yanked them several more backwards.

On night one,  Yunho had nearly strangled  Changmin to death. 

The next morning the teen had been surprisingly chipper until they had arrived at  Mirotic and his skin was still sporting an ugly green and yellow hand print around his wrist as the bruises faded, and though he had shrugged it off  Yunho had practically jumped at  Junsu that same night for touching the alpha too often while he was making dinner. That night he had brought the teen to his bed again, and though he had woken up half under him it had fortunately been uneventful otherwise.

If only the rest of the week had stayed that way.

Not only had  Yunho refused to visit the morgue with him, he had completely shut down when  Jaejoong asked him about a memorial service. Did Yunho want to bury his family, did he want to have their remains cremated? Was a shrine appropriate? The catatonic state the wolf had fallen into had been brushed off by Changmin initially, but after the first hours had passed and the nurse had begun to panic, at that point there had been little keeping the blonde together.

Junsu rushing back home, sweets in hand, had seemed to be some kind of trigger that had brought  Yunho back, but he would only eat if he was allowed to feed  Jaejoong as well.

The third night of  Yunho sleeping in his bed had really been some kind of trigger for Junsu and  Changmin , not that he understood why.

What he did understand was  Yunho’s foul mood, in a house full of wolves it was very difficult not to hear gossip, and neither of his children were pleased with his leniency or  Yunho’s clinginess. Neither did they buy into his theory of hero worship, not that  Jaejoong knew what else it could be.

It was only natural for the teen to cling to him; he was the one who offered him a safe haven after everything had been snatched away.  Changmin was adamant it was more serious, and  Jaejoong had only nearly punched him in the face for talking back at him.

He had tried to pretend  Yunho wasn’t being smug, that he had not been taunting  Changmin after that. 

Jaejoong however would have happily welcomed the smug attitude, because that night when he had sent  Yunho to his own room, though it was just next door, all hell had broken loose again.

The sound of screaming had startled the darkened household awake,  Jaejoong had been the first to burst into the room to find  Yunho tangled up in his bed sheets, sweaty and battling some kind of war he couldn’t see. When  Jaejoong had finally gotten his hand on  Yunho to shake him awake  Changmin had been there at his side with a cold compress, and that had been a mistake.

Gleaming golden eyes had greeted them, and instead of Yunho, the teens wolf had snarled at Changmin, it had only taken seconds for the nurse to crumple to the floor and scramble backwards in an effort to get away.  Junsu had started shrieking in terror as  Yunho’s sudden change to let his wolf out had sent the very shocked alpha sprawling to the floor, the sound had rung in his head for hours after.

What had lingered even longer was the feeling of hot breath ghosting over his throat as  Yunho’s wolf growled and bared his teeth. He hadn’t been able to shake the sensation of sharp canines grazing his throat that night though no damage had been done to any of them.

While he hadn’t changed himself, it had been with help from Lamb that he had managed to calm whatever was ailing  Yunho’s mind. He had spent the rest of his night wide awake with arms locked so tightly around his waist that he had bruised, but save for the iron grip Yunho had otherwise been at peace again. 

They had been sleeping together since, and there had been no more night terrors.

It was day six now, and after spending several days of trying to nicely coax Yunho into cooperating he had finally had to put his foot down. Eventually he would not see Yunho’s grief-stricken face whenever he closed his eyes.

_ “You’re being cruel,  _ _ Yunho _ _.” _

_ “They were your family  _ _ Yunho _ _ , we need to take care of them.” _

_ “ _ _ So _ _ what, you’re going to continue acting like an insolent child because you think it will bring back the dead?” _

_ “Fine, you know what I don’t care. Stay here then! I’ll say goodbye and apologize on your behalf since you’re being such a horrible son!” _

It shouldn’t have escalated to that point, he knew. They shouldn’t have been standing in the middle of the living room hollering at each other, but  Yunho’s complete refusal to tend to his family and the way he would shut down had gotten overwhelming. He’d tried to beg and plead, he had offered to switch from a proper burial to cremation thinking perhaps having his loved ones close would help, but nothing was having an effect.

Yunho was waiting for someone to burst through his front door and scold him from running off and that was not the sort of delusion he could allow to keep growing.

Still, he hated himself just a little bit for making  Yunho cry. 

The  cemetery was quiet, the grass was brilliantly green and well pruned with the smell of fresh flowers in the air and it was sunny despite the light rain that was falling.

The priest had long since left, leaving  Yunho standing with his umbrella gazing at the shiny headstones  Jaejoong had picked out. There were six of them, it was too many.

“ Yunho ,” the blonde called out softly as he  approached, “ I am sorry,  Yunho .”

He could practically smell the salty tears drying on  Yunho’s skin, it was sharp despite the wet grass, damp earth and rain, and worse he could see them as the other turned toward him slowly.

It wasn’t a surprise that  Yunho’s eyes were red and puffy, that he looked pale and just like the shell of a person, just like who he had pulled out of the forest about a week ago. 

“Jaejoong...”

He would have been lying if he tried to say his heart didn’t clench painfully, as if the small sound of Yunho’s voice didn’t hurt him.

That was the reason he dropped his umbrella without so much of another thought and rushed forward until his arms were curled around  Yunho . It was for just a moment the teen seemed to freeze up, and then he had tried to speak but no sound  save for a strangled sob left him. 

With  Yunho’s forehead pressed to his shoulder and a hand was clinging to the front of the blouse he  wore; the alpha swayed the both of them side to side as he rubbed at the nape of  Yunho’s neck. A couple of years ago he might have worried more that someone could have seen two men in suits hugging in the rain in a cemetery, but he really couldn’t care any less.

“It’s okay baby, I’m here now,” he was whispering before he could even consider the words, “You’ll always have a place here with me,  Yunho -yah. I’ll keep you forever, I promise. I won’t... I won’t leave.”

\------

He had been relieved more than offended when  Jaejoong told him they could stay home.

Perhaps he should have been concerned about what that statement had been foreshadowing, but as far as Changmin was concerned that one had the least impact.

Yunho , who was skittish and clearly suffering from  post-traumatic stress disorder, did not feel comfortable having a crowd behind him while he buried his family. He probably would have been more suspicious if the teen was looking to make a show out of it.  So it was hardly a surprise when the only person he willfully let near him that day had been  Jaejoong .

The problem wasn’t entirely that he wanted  Jaejoong near, as far as he cared, it was that he would not  _ allow _ anyone save for the blonde to approach. A lone wolf was not supposed to have that sort of pull or power over a pack, that their leader was allowing it was driving him mad.

Or, a tiny voice in the back of his mind kept chiming in, was  Yunho acting against  Jaejoong as well?

The very thought made his blood run cold. After everything they had been through, everything  Jaejoong had done for he and the rest of the pack it was hard to imagine anyone, save for family or the elder council, able to order the blonde around. 

Bending  Jaejoong to his will very much seemed to be  Yunho’s game though.

The blonde said no and he would argue, if he said no  again, he would pout. At least twice he had heard  Yunho growl at  Jaejoong , the sound had been low and ominous, a full warning and not anything playfully, though he hadn’t been able to catch what had  led up to the noise. 

“You’re doing it  agaaain ~”

Junsu’s voice was a lot like the light at the end of a dark hallway, one that directed him back to reality before he got lost beyond repair. 

“I’m just... thinking,” as though that hadn’t been obvious.

“About  umma ? Or is this about  Yunho again?”

Changmin had attempted to smile, but he knew it had come off as a grimace instead.

“Okay, it’s both of them, I see. Let me continue reading your mind, hold on,” it was utterly ridiculous, the way his mate stood up, shaking his hands above his head as though engaging in some kind of bizarre rain dance.

As  Junsu moved about the nurse folded his arms over his chest and he leaned backwards into the sofa, he tried really hard not to scowl or roll his eyes. After all, it might have almost been convincing that  Junsu was some kind of psychic if not for...

“Ah-hoo wa-hee ah ho ho ho,” came the chant, quietly at first, and growing in volume until, “Shark bait ooh ha ha!”

“ Oh, for goodness sake  Junsu ...”

But there was a hand clapped over his mouth, and the sky haired man leaned in very close as he glared down at the nurse. After a moment he threw his hands up in mock surrender.

“You’re concerned about  umma because of  Yunho . More specifically, you’re starting to suspect he is so soft on him because he has to be... Meaning you think that lone wolf may be stronger than our alpha is.  So what, both  Taecyeon and Matt can take him in a fight, but that isn’t the part that really bothers you, is it? No, you think on top of everything else that  Yunho is more dominant than  umma is.”

Junsu , he concluded, had binged Sherlock one too many times. He sounded excited as he spoke, like he was piecing together a great mystery nobody else could have figured out, and while perhaps it was a touch strange  Junsu was his mate after all. If someone knew him well, knew how his mind worked and the sort of things he  fret over...

“So you have been paying attention to me when I speak to you, most impressive.”

The hand was back over his mouth again, and  Junsu was tsk’ing at him.

“You think the second  Jaejoong properly welcomes  Yunho into our pack bonds that he is going to over throw him. Umma won’t go down willingly and we have both seen him hunt, we’ve seen him _ kill _ . You’re afraid  Yunho is going to kill  Jaejoong and that you are not going to be able to do anything except watch it happen.”

He didn’t know, he truly didn’t, when or why his heart had started thundering in his chest as  Junsu spoke, but by the end he was having a hard time breathing.

“How... how did you...”

The moment was overwhelming, and then suddenly it was not because  Junsu was cackling, not unlike a mad man. His mate didn’t even spare him another glance as he flop backwards into an empty seat on the sofa, clutching his midsection as he wheezed.

Changmin was just a little bit offended, rightfully so he thought. Yet just before he could raise his voice and demand his mate stop being an asshole the sky haired man was in his face all over again.

“I love you, seriously I do, but you are the most idiotic genius I’ve ever met, Shim  Changmin ,”  Junsu accused with a playful glare, “Seriously, how dense can you be?  Yunho won't hurt Jaejoong.”

“What the fuck  Junsu , I’m being serious here. I think  Jaejoong is in danger-”

“So am I, and I’m telling you you’re wrong,” his mate interrupted again with a knowing grin, “Yunho isn’t going to hurt your mommy, Changminnie... Yunho wants to be your new daddy.”


	23. Twenty One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhhh triggerwarning? For those particularly sensitive to some scenarios?
> 
> This bit is definitely pushing at the rating though it isn't all too explicit, but you know. Just in case you need the heads up to prepare yourself or click away here it is.

Never had he been so glad to have Changmin’s time taken away from him. After the situation with Yunho, which Junsu had formally labelled as _The Incident,_ Jaejoong had been in contact with the hospital to arrange extra time off for the nurse. He had surely needed it, and if his mate had been home for any other reason he would have been thrilled, but...

Having  Changmin and  Yunho under the same roof consistently for over a week had been awkward, to put it kindly. 

Insufferable was a better word, if  Junsu was being dramatic. 

Nothing too terrible had happened, but everything was painfully awkward.

Yunho wanted  Jaejoong .  _ Jaejoong _ _ ,  _ _ Jaejoong _ _ , Jaejoong _ .

The teen followed the man about like a lost puppy, constantly underfoot and within touch range, it had been by  Jaejoong’s rule the first couple of days, and then  Yunho clinging afterward. He glued himself to the man’s back whenever the blonde was puttering around the kitchen, sat impossibly close to him during meals, went along with  Jaejoong to work and shared his bed at night.

Somewhere along the way he’d found the space to drag the alpha aside to voice his concerns, it was all a bit much, a bit over the top. He’d been brushed off at first, and that had agitated his mate who was taking it worse than he was.  Yunho would glare or growl when they got too close, and that was all wrong considering the boy was the outsider within their household,  Jaejoong was _ theirs _ , arguably.

Not that it took long for it to click into place, the stupid teenager was like a dog with a bone. Or more accurately a wolf with its mate, except the word had not come from  Yunho’s mouth, and it certainly hadn’t come from Jaejoong’s.

_ That _ conversation hadn’t been ideal either, as the blonde had brushed off his theories as something else. Hero worship, which could have been true, but it wasn’t. 

He couldn’t blame the hesitation in his alpha, they had all seen it one at a time before, someone  Jaejoong would help with their misplaced, confused feelings that really only led to hurt ones. 

The difference, far as the sky haired man was concerned, wasn’t entirely  Yunho’s behavior, it was Jaejoong’s.

The night the alpha had kicked the teen out of his bed after a lot of bitching and nagging from he and  Changmin had gone terribly and in the end  Jaejoong had been worse than a parent with a newborn. He’d gone rushing and fretting to  Yunho’s side the moment he caught wind of  Yunho’s distress and they went back to being  inseparable .

Even when they were fighting, which had been a lot over the last few days regarding  Yunho’s family and the memorial the alpha had put together for them.

Jaejoong spoke,  Yunho freaked  out or shut down,  Jaejoong got angry and then any reaction  Yunho had, never a happy one, caused the alpha to crumble and rush back to the boy. It was so very unlike the alpha, no matter how loving or caring he was.

Jaejoong did not dote like a househusband, except now he was.

This happened to cause an awful lot of distress to his Changmin.

Changmin who was convinced  Yunho was the spawn of Satan, out to overthrow and murder  Jaejoong and rip their misfit family apart by all means necessary. His attempts to soothe  Changmin’s worries hadn’t gone well.

For as clever and sensible as his mate was the man was being a damned fool, the smartest idiot he had ever met.

Apparently the crass way he had informed his mate of  Yunho’s intentions had been ‘inappropriate’, not that he knew why. He hadn’t been exactly explicit, but that wasn’t the problem he knew. 

The idea of  umma having a lover, having a mate, was causing his first child to have an epic tantrum.

But if his mate suggested they invite one, if not all of  Jaejoong’s sisters to intervene one more time, he was going to have to whack him.

Not that the boy was his favorite person, not after  _ The Incident _ , but  Yunho hadn’t lifted another finger against Changmin, although he did apologize frequently.

Junsu could at least begin to let it go, given what he had learned. If his mate could settle down a little, could stop plotting on his to get rid of _it_ everything would be fine.

Their alpha clearly wanted the new boy around, and trying to drive him away was going to get the both of them in trouble. After so long, he also couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe, just maybe  Yunho happened to be the key to  Jaejoong’s happiness.

For all of the trauma their alpha helped them heal, there truly was nobody tending to the man and that, well that hurt actually.

Too much thinking was making his head hurt. He needed to act not think, but he couldn’t do so without figuring out which course he needed to take. Did he talk to  Jaejoong or Changmin?

It had to be  Jaejoong he knew, and with  Changmin at the hospital for a shift, awkward had left the house for a while so he could breathe deeply. If he spoke to Jaejoong awkward would be back, and then later it would be double, maybe even triple awkward when the nurse was home.

So there would be no thinking he decided, no talking, no acting.

There would be napping, at least two hours worth, and then he could think and act and deal with the awkward.

\-----

It was graphite as it scratched paper that filled the space.  Jaejoong was practically on the edge of his seat, brow furrowed in concentration.

He kept his style as diverse as possible, but sometimes something fell into his lap that would keep him focused tirelessly. 

The look of traditional Japanese art was one that had always excited him, but he had never tried his hand at  _ Irezumi _ before and he never would. It would be a disgrace, an insult to creep toward such masterwork without the right training, the right guidance, and he certainly didn’t have a master to work under, nor the time to shift countries and find one. He had been careful to make that clear to his client, a Tokyo native that visited Seoul frequently for work.

Apparently, the man had been eyeing  Mirotic since it had opened and had finally decided to drop by one day, the man who had previously done all of his work had passed away a couple of years back and he was only just moving on.  Somehow he had found the story touching, a business relationship turned proper friendship, and once the man had felt comfortable in moving on it had been  Jaejoong’s work he gravitated to.

That was intimidating, the pieces that decorated his skin were rather lovely, sharp and crisp despite their years and frankly he wasn’t sure he would measure up.

Luckily his client didn’t want the pieces to be seamless, they didn’t have to match the masterwork on his skin, it had to compliment it and while that offered him some breathing room, it wasn’t a whole lot.

Especially when he had such a sinking suspicious that his client happened to be yakuza. He prayed he was wrong, but it wasn’t like he could ask.

Rather he kept telling himself if he was, if he truly was-  surely he wouldn’t go to a foreign artist, right? There would be someone else, someone proper, traditional... But he also knew the practices weren’t entirely what it used to be.

He also might have nearly wept when the man had clapped him on the shoulder and told him there would be more clients in his future if he did well.

The yakuza would not be in Seoul,  Jaejoong had told himself firmly. It had helped, for a while.

For about a day or so. 

Which was why he was sitting in his office, sketching and lining again.

“Can I talk yet?”

_ No _ , he had almost answered  instinctively , instead he lifted his head, blinked and then he slowly turned his chair to glance at Yunho.

“I never told you not to,” he pointed out carefully, cocking his head to one side, “I just told you,  you would probably be bored if you came along today. Besides, would you listen if I told you to be quiet?”

“No,” the answer sounded so immediately that it almost took him by surprise.

“What?  Of course you would have. You-”

“No, I really wouldn’t have,” there was a haughty smirk on  Yunho’s face, with his arms crossed over his chest, “I don’t have to listen to you.”

Jaejoong couldn’t stop himself from scowling, “fuck off,  Yunho . You do, I told you if you want to be my wolf-”

“Shut your mouth.”

The words had been so sudden, so sharp that  Jaejoong had closed his mouth, there was even an audible click of his teeth together because of how forcefully he had listened. Once the alpha had realized it for himself his eyes had widened a fraction, and then he glared and he tried to ignore the way his heart began to race.

“Jung  Yunho I swear I-”

But the teen was up, out of his chair and in his space suddenly. Despite himself  Jaejoong shrunk back in his own chair, his skin felt clammy suddenly, sticking to soft leather as he had tried to slide down it, to get away.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t anywhere to go,  Yunho’s legs pressed against his knees and there were hands pressed to the chairs’ arms as the other hovered over him.

“You won’t anything,  Jaejoong . You aren’t allowed.”

Suddenly he felt cold and his eyes fluttered closed in time with the way he shivered. It was ridiculous, he wasn’t sure why  Yunho was acting out, but it wasn’t funny and it wasn’t appropriate.

“Okay, cute, I’ve humored you enough now, haven’t I?” the blonde murmured, pressing his hands to the teens’ shoulders to push him away, “You’re my wolf, aren’t you Jung  Yunho ? That’s what you want, hm?  So behave now, childish rebellion isn’t good on you.”

He pushed harder when the other didn’t back up,  Yunho had merely grinned and shook his head like he couldn’t be more amused.

Jaejoong however, was terribly confused, what had gotten into  Yunho ? It truly was unlike him.

That was probably why he felt like he couldn’t breathe, like he had been holding his breath until the teen had stood properly and backed off, holding his hands up in mock surrender. 

“You’re hungry right? Did I forget to feed you again?” came the teasing, an effort to lighten the tense air between them.

And there it was, he thought,  Yunho practically pouted at him after a moment and nodded. 

“Aw, don’t pout baby, I’ll take care of you,”  Jaejoong chided playfully, pushing away from his chair and to his feet, he felt a bit unsteady.

On his way past he reached out and ruffled the younger man’s hair. It was about 3 paces away that he had made it before there were fingers curling tightly around his bicep and tugging him back.

“You’ll take care of me, will you? I know what I want already,” Yunho uttered, pulling until the blonde was facing him.

The words on his tongue went forgotten, mostly because he hadn’t had time to make a sound before there were lips pressed against his own.  Jaejoong’s eyes were wide and he froze, froze until a tongue swiped over his lower lip, the sensation snapped him back to reality.

He pushed so hard the younger wolf went tumbling to the floor.

“What- what the f-fuck are you doing?” he spit, gritting his teeth at the way his voice trembled. 

Had he done it? How had he done it, how had he given  Yunho the wrong impression? Why wasn’t  Yunho getting up? The teen was just watching up from the floor, expression blank. Oh, he had over reacted hadn’t he?

Letting out a nervous chuckle  Jaejoong took a step back and then he turned, shuffling back over to his desk to straighten up the pile to sketches he had been working on.

“I uh, I’m sorry about that. I just... I didn’t, you... shouldn’t, can’t,” there were a lot of words coming from his mouth, it certainly felt like he wasn’t saying a whole lot though.

“Shouldn’t, can’t?” the words were right in his ear, warm breath ghosting over his skin, “That hurts,  Jaejoong -ah, don’t you understand? You’re mine.”

He opened his mouth to ask- to  _ demand _ but the pain hit before he could. A cry was strangled from  Jaejoong’s throat, his entire form shook violently as  Yunho’s teeth dug into the back of his neck, and even if he hadn’t been pressed forward until he was bent over his desk he wouldn’t have needed to see the splatter of red hit the white surface to realize he was bleeding. He could smell it, practically taste it on his own tongue.

And he was supposed to be angry now, he was supposed to go insane because he was being violated, because this wasn’t what he wanted surely, and yet he hadn’t moved,  Jaejoong only stared, wide eyed at the splash of red on white.

“Yunho,” he whispered, voice hoarse as his fingers splayed against the smooth surface, he was supposed to push back now, supposed to fight, but there was a warm tongue lapping at the nape of his neck, soothing the pain so beautifully, and a firm chest pressed into his back, pinning him to his desk.

_ You’re mine _ .

The words played on repeat in his head and  Jaejoong caught himself whimpering before he could stop it.

“You’re mine, Kim  Jaejoong ,” the words were pressed into the nape of his neck, each one accentuated with a press of teeth to already broken skin, “You don’t want sweet or delicate. You want to be bent against your will, broken down and  _ fucked. _ You want to be taken, to be mated like a bitch in heat.”

_ No, no I don’t _ .

The words were there, they flashed through his mind briefly, but when his mouth opened, there was no denial or rejection, just the sound of a wanton whore moaning that interrupted him. It confused  Jaejoong , startled him, even, until he realized  _ he _ had been the one moaning.

“Oh- oh god,” whether it had slipped out in horror or something else, he didn’t know.

All he knew were the hands that dropped to his hips and gripped too tight, bruising skin as  Yunho ground against his backside. It was impossible to miss the fact that the teen was hard, just as impossible as it was for  Jaejoong to ignore his own erection, born from the sinful way  Yunho was manhandling him.

“S-stop,  Yunho . I don’t... I don’t want this.”

The way  Yunho laughed sounded sinister, fingertips pressing into his hips turned to the bite of blunted nails, it tore another shameful noise from the alpha’s throat and he jerked violently, attempting to squirm away without anywhere to go.

“You're going to beg, Jae. You’re going to beg me to fuck you here, bent over your desk. You’re going to beg me to fuck you until you cannot walk anymore,” was the dark promise, “And I’m going to. I’m going to take you, I’m going to own your mind, body and soul.”

One of the hands left his hip, two fingers pressed against his mouth instead, pressed until his jaw went slack and welcomed them into the wet cavern of his mouth. It was that way that  Yunho forced his head up and back until he was staring into the mirrored wall. 

The blonde hardly recognized himself; his pale skin was flushed pink, lips red and slick with saliva as his tongue worked at the digits pressing and scraping his tongue and his eyes were wide, glassy and completely lust blown.

Then there was  Yunho , smirking at him in the mirror. He looked completely put together, quietly in control of the situation as he wrecked  Jaejoong’s senses, but the alpha paused and when he gasped as pure golden eyes met his in the mirror.

Their gazes locked and  Jaejoong attempted to growl instinctively at the challenge he saw there, but  Yunho’s hips rocked into him and the noise came out more like a strained whimper.

“Mate. My beautiful mate,” the voice barely sounded human anymore, “Let us have you. Let us break you.”

He didn’t know what had done it, if it was the word mate, or the change of tone, but he could no longer hold the piercing stare. He moaned his frustration, or maybe it was desperation instead, and then he dropped his head forward in a display of submission.

“Mate,”  Jaejoong whimpered, squeezing his eyes closed, “Please. Please, I need you. My Mate. My  Yunho .  _ Please. _ ”

The sound of a phone chirping tore a growl from his throat.

And then it chimed again, and again, louder and louder.

After the fifth time, it sounded like it was directly in his ear drum, and suddenly  Jaejoong bolted up right.

His eyes were wide and clouded and his breathing ragged. The walls of  Mirotic were quick to shatter, falling away before his very eyes, replaced with the familiar tones of his bedroom.

A hand flew to the back of his neck, fingers brushing over smooth, unmarred skin as he took in the sight of his room and the dark comforter pooled in his lap, over to the body stretched out next to him.

Yunho’s breathing was slow and even, and  Jaejoong found himself sharply aware of two things.

The first was that he had just had an unexpected dream, and the second was that he was very, very aroused.

Carefully he shoved the covers aside, turning to slide out of bed, but there was an arm hooking around his waist suddenly, pulling at him.

“Sleep,”  Yunho’s voice was hoarse with sleep, and Jaejoong’s heart was hammering in his chest so  fiercely it ached.

So he did the first thing he could think of.

He turned back to the teen, leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss to his mouth. It was just a fleeting moment, “I need to get to the bathroom, I’ll be right back,  Yunho -yah.”

But it had worked, the arm around him went slack and  Jaejoong slipped away, nearly tripping over his own feet as the teen murmured a sleepy, “’ _ kay. _ "


	24. Twenty Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Same sort of deal as last chapter. This has an M rating and might be slightly triggering for sensitive individuals.

Metal bites firmly into his wrists and digs deeper each time he pulls. That the skin hadn’t split yet is some kind of miracle because he had been trying for the past five minutes to twist and pull until the metal bends or snaps with no avail. 

They’re not silver, but his skin aches from his actions so badly that silver induced burning might have hurt less.

He needs to calm down, to breathe. If he was in any  imminent danger he would have known it, or he would have been dead already. The only thing torturing him now is his mind, because it battles with him.

He had been perfectly fine when his eyes had fluttered open and he realized he was unable to see. It took seconds of his eyelashes brushing against dark silk for him to realize he was blind folded, a sleeping mask he had assumed. Issue hadn’t risen until he had reached to pull it off.

It was when his wrist caught after virtually going nowhere, one, two, three times he had tugged, each time more aggressively than the last. After that he had tried to pull, to slide his hand out of the circle of griping metal, but that hadn’t worked either.

Through the struggle it was only his breathing that betrayed him. The slight quickening of the rate in which he breathed in, the way each breath hitched into a small gasp as he attempted to calm himself and his racing heartrate. He refused to yell, to give proper voice to the panic that urged him to cry out for help.

And his instincts, betraying him as they were, floated just one name through his mind.

_ Yunho. _

Yes,  Yunho could save him,  Yunho would protect him,  Yunho would know where he was and how he got there.  Yunho would make it okay. 

It was that realization that kept his mouth firmly shut. He just needed to think.

Where was he? How had he gotten there?

Only after he had stopped fighting against the cuffs could he begin to think, and immediately he wished he hadn’t.

The more he calmed down, the more worked up he realized he was. His skin was hot and clammy, he could feel a layer of sweat painting over him, and the way he squirmed and shifted his hips had been a massive, massive mistake.

The pain was onset, chased by the tingling sensation that crawled up his spine that caused his toes to curl and his entire form to tremble before long. He could feel his erection as it swayed, as it laid heavily against his abdomen where his  muscles clenched.

It was the presence of a  cockring that was holding him suspended in a state of arousal, and the persistent buzz of a toy pressed inside of him that was causing him distress. It felt too good, and each shift of his hips, jostled the toy causing it to jab against a sensitive bundle of nerves.

Whatever attempts he was making to keep quiet were slipping, ebbing away each time his muscles spasmed involuntarily as he was pulled further from a state of lucidity. 

Had he passed out before, fully unconscious? Surely, he must have or he wouldn’t have found himself so startled now.

As the slow creak of a door swinging open hits his ears,  Jaejoong hears it.

“ Yunho .  _ Yunho _ _ , please, _ ” there is something awful whimpering the young wolf’s name, wanton and desperate and whorish over and over.

The sound is so foreign in his ears, but as the creaking door clicks shut again and the pitiful whining doesn’t cease... he realizes with great horror that the noises are slipping from his own wretched mouth. 

He wants to die suddenly, right then and there as his face blooms crimson.

“Please what, babe?” a baritone voice hums, much closer than he had expected, and then the bed is dipping slightly as warmth settles close by.

They aren’t touching, but if he were to shift ever so  slightly they would  be, and yet for some reason he keeps still, or tries to at least.

“Why?” 

How had this happened? Why was it happening?

“Why?”  Yunho sounds amused above him, and then suddenly the darkness disappears from before his eyes so he can stare into the younger man’s face as he grins widely, “You were being naughty,  Jaejoongie . I told you I would have to punish you if you did not listen to me.”

He tries, and he tries hard to figure it out, exactly what  Yunho means but he is drawing a blank. Any chance he had of wrapping his mind around the situation is shot down when gorgeous, long digits curl around him and stroke him once, twice.

It is back, the desperate whimpering, the way his hips jerk on their own accord. The maddening slide of  Yunho’s hand stops and then disappears entirely.

“My stubborn  Jaejoongie , is it too much?” comes the cooing voice, close to his ear as  Yunho bends over him,  Jaejoong nods furiously despite himself.

Unfortunately, that only seems to be a source of amusement. There is a tongue tracing the outer shell of his ear and his head nearly collides dangerously with the younger’s as he jerks. His voice is gone again, over taken by anguished moans. 

“Well, baby, you know our safe word,”  Yunho taunts in between the kisses he dots along the blonde’s jaw, “Because I don’t quite think you’re sorry yet, do you? Have you learned your lesson?”

Everything freezes suddenly as he was about to protest. No, no he didn’t know anything.

But then there it was.

_ Pineapple,  _ and he almost bursts out laughing as he pictures Yunho telling him the word so seriously.

As his mouth opens, the ridiculous  safeword clear on the tip of his tongue, he cannot force it any further.  Jaejoong moans instead, eyes rolling toward the back of his head as his vision blurs. 

He can picture too many things suddenly. The brush of fingertips persistently along his arm, across his lower back and the nape of his neck, fingers that do not belong to  Yunho but someone else, the  acquaintance of a client. Next is  Yunho , fuming silently nearby, the agitation radiating from the young man is so strong he is nearly shaking.

He pulled  Jaejoong aside after, voicing his anxiety and distaste that had been brushed off with an apology.

But the next session that touchy man is back again, and the fingers are bolder that time, ceasing briefly when he muttered about needing his hands to be steady. When they return  Yunho physically pulls the man away with a shout of possession of the blonde tattooist.

It was the younger man he soothed, setting the gun down as he presses into Yunho’s side nuzzling into his neck and whispering his apologies, met only with a firm nod and a promise that he would learn.

All he is really learning is that  Yunho is a bit of a sadist, a controlling, domineering beast of a man that does not take well to being defied. 

Jaejoong is used to the opposite, people who scurry and bend to his will with little to no question.

It all excites him too much, and for that reason he cannot open his mouth to make it all stop. 

“You’re mine Jaejoong. My mate.”

\-----

He knows as soon as his eyes open that it was just a dream.

Even though he knows, his hands still move, brushing over the nape of his neck to find nothing. There is no mass of scar tissue, no scar or scabbing, no lingering ache.

It has been the same for a week already. Each time his eyes fluttered closed and his mind slipped away  Yunho would fill the space. It was nearly always the younger man manhandling him, dominating him and any time he protested he was silenced by a single worded claim.

_ Mate _ .

Other times, it was just the two of them living together mundanely. The way they curled up on the sofa or got ready for bed was eerily similar to day to day life.  Jaejoong had yet to figure out which set of dreams frightened him more.

Mostly because each time he would startle awake and find himself in the same tricky position. Painfully hard, sometimes sticky, and mortified to find Yunho wrapped around him, sleeping peacefully unaware of the inappropriate dreams plaguing  Jaejoong .

Every morning he  touches the back of his neck, at first telling himself to ensure it was just a dream- a nightmare even.

The problem is that each day the knowledge that he had just been dreaming, just fantasizing even, cuts a little bit deeper.

None of it is supposed to happen, and each day he struggles more. A single dream a week ago had ripped him apart and the pieces are beginning to fall faster than he can catch them, much less put them back together.

Jaejoong made a choice a long time ago.

The day he had made the choice to rescue Shim  Changmin from himself, whether he had wanted to be saved or not. The day he had accidentally started a pack of his own, a family of his own had sealed his fate.

With people who relied on him, looked up to him he had had to cut a part of himself away, and he had. He’d buried himself, locked it up in the dark and promised never to allow that depraved part of his soul to see the light of day again.

He has to set an example, be a good leader and a safe space. He has to be someone the  other’s can rely on, someone his family can be proud of and not some depraved, pitiful excuse of an alpha. His pack will be in danger if he comes across as weak, and perhaps they would be the first to turn on him.

It wasn’t actually difficult for him to change, time had helped, tending to his pack helped. When those things stopped helping he went to Miryo, sought help from his sister and the elder council.

That was when the missions started, the hunting or the occasional rescue. Though it wasn’t entirely the sort of release he craved, it worked just the same, created a time and a space that it was okay for him to be sick, to be deviant because it was for the good of them all.

Yunho was uncovering that part of him without doing anything though, and he had the sense to at least be ashamed of himself.

What sort of alpha wanted to be pinned down and tortured by their mate? How could he even begin to call himself an alpha with such desires? And how could he even begin to push those desires on someone far too young? 

Lamb, who usually aided him in keeping sane, who helped him channel his horrible constitution into bloodlust and murderous intent, was being less than helpful. The wolf, who seemed to previously agree that he was all wrong had seemingly turned against him, glancing at  Yunho in too favorable of a light.

The boy could not be his mate though, he was too young and even if he manipulated  Yunho into it somehow, he would probably only damage him beyond repair.

And if he ruined his mate in such a way? Death would be the only fitting outcome.

So he needed to go.

It was that thought that had him fleeing, scrambling out of  Yunho’s sleepy hold the way he had been each morning for the past week with a chaste kiss and a promise to return.

Except that day, he did not return to bed.

He’d dialed a number while he stood under the cold spray of the shower, still dressed in pajamas and shaking like a leaf.

Miryo sounded furious when she finally answered, demanding to know if he understood what time it was.

Their exchange was short, and by the time he was shoving bare necessities into a duffle bag a lone text pinged onto his phone.

It was a location, Busan specifically, and a confirmation for a train ticket, a train that would be departing soon.

The details, whatever instructions, he would receive those later.

For now,  Jaejoong just needed to  _ go _ .


	25. Twenty Three

The hostel he is staying in is shabby and slightly run down. There is a faint crack in one of the walls, poorly masked with a coat of paint and the smell of mildew is strong.

Water damage is slowly but surely  wreaking havoc on the building, but  Jaejoong isn’t an inspector and he certainly doesn’t actually care. His stay is only temporary and though there is no room service to call on and he might walk away with an upper respiratory infection he knows nobody will bother him there. Nobody would even think to look for him there.

That is why he doesn’t feel bad that he is making tiny holes in the weakened plaster of the wall as he pins several images up.

Young wolves are going missing from several small packs spread across Busan, they are seemingly disappearing into thin air. Some are as young as 6, and the oldest reported missing linger between 13 and 14.

Young people still finding themselves, typically without a solid control over themselves and their wolves and obviously lacking strength to fight off whoever is grabbing them. The human authorities are on the alert due to the missing children but they have turned up only a few leads. Their vigilance has prevented a couple of younglings being taken from their families but they have not solved the problem.

The sheriff had been all too happy to volunteer information and share with him everything pertaining to the case when he had showed up. He held up the detective’s badge he had lifted from  Taecyeon’s pocket the last time they met up, though he is certain the man knows he actually has the thing. 

It is because the man trusts him, though it certainly isn’t something he should have knowingly allowed. Sometimes, given his work for the council,  Jaejoong needs the extra help and seeing as he will not allow the others to step into  harms way  alongside him, the occasional use of a badge isn’t so much to ask. 

The sheriffs seem to think the core operation is a 5 man unit consisting of 4 men and a woman, and that level of thought falls easily in line with the suspicions of the elder council as well.

In that group of 5, one of them is a wolf, the others are hunters,  Jaejoong suspects it in the woman.

The story he suspects is a sad one. She was probably snatched young herself by a group of hunters, likely the men she is working with already, maybe they didn’t know her true nature, or maybe they did. Either way, he expects a fair amount of physical and emotional torture to be woven into the tale, life or death, or maybe a hostage situation. Would someone  sacrifice themselves for the sake of another?

He knows he would, if he found himself in that situation. If it was the only option, the only way,  Jaejoong wouldn’t think twice about surrendering himself for the safety of one of his sisters or any member of his pack. 

However, he would not resort to the torture, kidnap and murder of others. He would gladly accept death first.

It is that reason he has already decided, there will be no redemption arch to the story. 

The wolf among the hunters, even if his instincts are all wrong and the most likely situation is wrong will not matter. 

A noble  sacrifice would end with just that, but there was nobility to be found in luring and trapping innocents. 

The blonde’s hands are covered in snug leather gloves, one wrist tucked neatly in his hand behind his back as he stares at the wall before him.

Their faces will haunt him, the assortment of photos of children on their missing posters, he has memorized most of their names already, pairing them to their photos in the hopes that perhaps he might be able to recover some of them, though he knows better than to get his hopes up.

Next to the photos are several maps of the areas, bright  coloured pins and bright yellow sticky notes with small blurbs on them nearby. Who was taken, where, when and what  time.

Among the photos of the children and two others. One of a man with a highly questionable, spotty past that is suspected of being involved. The sheriffs had been unable to find anything that would allow them a warrant or to otherwise rip the man’s life apart and question him. The other photo was somewhat blurry, a picture taken with a cellphone from far away of a young-looking woman that the sheriffs suspected was the female accomplice, they couldn’t ID her, but they had blurry pictures from traffic cameras with two small blurry masses that roughly matched the  silhouettes of missing children around or on the date of two disappearances.

And he had nearly scowled at the deputy. Accomplice? If she was involved,  surely, she was just as guilty as the rest.

Luckily, he needed no such papers, he didn’t care for the legal procedures. 

Mostly because  _ when _ he caught them, he would make sure they disappeared.

\-----

Something is off kilter, but he isn’t entirely sure what at first. 

The house is still and silent, but something inherently feels wrong in the air and it is unnerving him.

To make matters worse he cannot sense  Jaejoong , like the alpha has disappeared off the face of the earth, but  Yunho is still there and that is definitely abnormal. 

Thinking of the young wolf, his distress and agitation is palpable, perhaps that is the stifling feeling in the air that makes him feel like he is choking. 

If  Jaejoong left for  Mirotic and left the kid upstairs he is going to scream at both the boy and his alpha, pecking order and manners be damned.

He probably could hold his own in a physical brawl, now that he is not running on no sleep and emotional turmoil, but it wouldn’t really just be a fist fight. The battle would turn to one of dominance and he would either roll over or their wolves would ensure blood stains ruining all of the alpha’s favorite furniture. 

Serious injury would follow, potentially even death and  _ that  _ would probably make for a worst day than being stuck under the same roof with  Yunho . Probably, he still wasn’t entirely convinced yet.

Eventually he would get over the whole choking incident, it wasn’t that he had continued to fear for his life, but his pride had been and still was severely wounded.

The nonsense  Jaejoong let  Yunho get away with, coupled with  Junsu’s theories, for he refused to accept how real the probability was, pissed him off. 

Mates? He didn’t think  Yunho deserved his friend.

There was too much disrespect, and it was practically blatant and yet when he opened his mouth and nagged for too long, the blonde would look at him.

It wasn’t a glare and there was no challenge or command from the alpha, just a blank, far away stare with the faintest hint of defeat in  Jaejoong’s eyes. That look just about broke  Changmin each and every time, and the times his anger burned fierce enough to get past the look it was the barely audible breath of ‘ _ I’m sorry _ ' that would follow that did him in.

A silver bullet to the heart would be less damaging, he bet.

That look seized hold of him and dragged him backwards in time, back to the days when he was young, younger than  Yunho was now, and with that look came the memories he tried hard to erase from his mind. It always almost nearly worked, and then whenever his feelings got too hurt or his temper flared and  Jaejoong couldn’t find the words to placate him that look would return.

Jaejoong wasn’t even looking at him, wasn’t even there to look at him, and yet with every blink of his eyes he could see it.

“ Junsu !” he hollered, hands clenching into tight fists at his sides. 

Only seconds later his mate’s pastel head floods his vision as he peeks through the door way, clearly still half asleep given the way  Junsu is rubbing at one of his eyes.

“You promised to let me sleep in late today,” comes the soft complaint from a pouting mouth and though  Changmin briefly feels guilty, he is more relieved.

The world isn’t spinning backwards any longer as  Junsu’s stubborn affair with sleep rears its head again. At least something is going as he expects.

“ Jaejoong isn’t here,” he  interrupts quietly with a frown, and the blank look prompts him to continue, “ Yunho is.”

It only seems to take a moment before  Junsu is nodding slowly, “Well, I suppose it was bound to happen eventually. When did he say he would be back? Lunch? Dinner? Hopefully in 45 minutes because he went to the grocery store?”

Although he knew it already, that the alpha hadn’t woken Junsu to inform him of when he would return, it left only one possibility, but if Yunho knew where the blonde was going, they probably would have left together.

“ No, he’s just gone.”

“Like...  _ gone _ gone?”

“I think-”

“Like gone _I’m-probably-on-a-suicide-mission-for-the-council-and-I’m-not-going-to-tell-you-just-take-off-because-I-don’t-want-you-to-worry-that-I-may-not-make-it-home_ **gone**?”

There is a tipping point,  Junsu’s voice pitches just a little bit higher, between the lack of breath and his emotion he is practically squeaking by the end. The noise isn’t particularly loud, but it is loud enough that he catches just the faintest movement down the hall.

The sound of footsteps attempting to sneak and failing reaches him, as Junsu falls silent the movement stops.

He doesn’t like the idea at all, and yet the only time  Jaejoong ever takes off without speaking to them before hand is for that reason. It doesn’t always happen, but sometimes there is no time, the issue is that usually isn’t too much of a timeframe of absence, for it all depends what the council wants their alpha for.

In a few hours he suspects they will receive a phone call with a sheepish  Jaejoong on the end of it apologizing. The nurse is aware they don’t have a few hours before  Yunho is huffing and puffing, the young wolf is already stirring.

For that reason  Changmin is on his feet, pulling  Junsu properly into the space, he never has liked that they kept two bedrooms, that they somewhat regularly slept apart but it is a necessary evil. Sometimes his schedule is too unforgiving and it pains him too much to wake the sky haired man at odd hours in the morning once he’s stumbled in from the hospital. It used to bother him a lot more, but they are much happier for it in the end.

Sleep deprived  Junsu is frightening.

He is halfway in his room and half in the hall when he hears the knob on  Jaejoong’s door rattle. In his haste he suspects  Yunho forgot about the silver fixture because he can hear the pained hiss and the door goes still, but only for a second.

The rattling is frantic, the click of a deadbolt retracting before finally the door gives away and swings inwards.

Yunho is shirtless and looks disheveled and disoriented, shaking his hand as though it would sooner alleviate the pain in his fingers.

It only takes the teen a few seconds, he glances behind him and then down the hall, leaning to one side like it’d help him seen more, but when  Jaejoong doesn’t appear his eyes close and he can see the way he practically shakes as he takes a breath.

“ Yunho -”  Changmin begins, and when the young man’s eyes snap open he attempts to step backwards.

But he gets  nowhere as his spine collides with the corner of the door frame and vibrant golden eyes stare him down. He wants to sink down, to slide to the floor and apologize because it looks as though the younger wolf is ready to fight, ready to rush at him and tear him to bits and pieces.

He flinches visibly when  Yunho takes a single step, and the nurse’s hand flies up, colliding with  Junsu’s chest and shoving his mate backwards as he tries to step out into the hall.

“ Yunho ,” he says again, more urgently and squeezes his eyes shut.

“ Changmin ?”  Junsu sounds closer to hysterical.

Everything goes still and silent, and when he forces his eyes open he regrets it immensely.

Gone is the gold, replaced with glassy, chocolate eyes that remind him of a small child.  Yunho looks confused and lost, just like the harmless thing  Jaejoong has been cooing about. He is looking around again, hands opening and closing around the air anxiously, and he already knows what the teen is looking for.

“Jae?  Jaejoong -ah?”  Yunho calls, and he sounds helpless, fright and distress heavy in his vocal  cords .

When he catches the teens eyes he nearly looks away, wants to scowl and tell him off but he cannot get his tongue to work.

“Is... is... where did  Jaejoong go?”

Suddenly his hand is knocked away from  Junsu’s chest and his mate is pushing past him, out into the hallway, and the sharp intake of air from the sky haired man causes him to wince.

“ Yunho ,”  Junsu murmurs in an attempt to soothe him, his hands are held up as though in surrender as he moves forward, “It’s okay  Yunho , calm down...  Jaejoong isn’t home right now.”

“Where-”

“Hey, it’s alright,” the barista continues to speak, continues inching forward closer to the wolf, and  Changmin wants to reach out, shout and yank him backwards but he cannot get his limbs to function, “Breathe first, then we’ll call  Jaejoong , okay?”

He nearly shouts, nearly, but instead he merely lurches forward for a step or two when  Yunho grabs hold of his mate. The need and desire that rise in him to attack is dosed in cold water immediately when he sees  Junsu’s arms curl in turn around the teen, rubbing awkwardly at his back as he glances backwards.

_‘What do we do?’_ Junsu mouths at him silently, eyes wide.

The problem is, Changmin has no idea.


	26. Twenty Four

It took 45 minutes to get Yunho to calm down, if they could call it calm. 

He was unconscious, and that was sort of progress, mostly because they hadn’t had to knock him out or drug him. 

The door of Jaejoong’s bedroom, of _Yunho_ and Jaejoong’s bedroom (though Changmin had whacked him upon hearing him call it that), was slightly ajar, as he walked by he stopped, poking his head through the space to check on the distressed wolf. He really was like a child just then, one that had tuckered themselves out after too much of an emotional tantrum, but it wasn’t a lost toy that had caused the problem. 

It was a lost something though, a lost someone. 

Yunho had put on one of the oversized sweaters Jaejoong practically lived in each fall, though the fabric didn’t look like it was trying to swallow up the teen so much as it seemed to fit him as intended. There were arms curled around the pillow the alpha slept with and a face half buried into it. 

If he were being honest, he caught himself doing something similar when he missed Changmin after a particularly tiring day. 

Backing away from the door before he managed to tear Yunho from his fragile sleep he took particularly light steps on his way down the stairs. 

Changmin was in the kitchen, but of course his mate would have lived in the space if he were allowed. 

“Yunho is still asleep,” the house had been silent for the past 20 or so minutes. 

That knowledge didn’t seem to help at all. Changmin’s shoulders were slumped, head propped up in his hands as he stared down at the breakfast bar. 

He hadn’t exactly volunteered to deal with the young wolf, but a glance at Changmin told him enough. His mate was having none of it, in no mood to coddle or deal with Yunho, and though he wasn’t eager about it himself, he knew he wouldn’t step in and make matters worse. 

Changmin had nearly gotten kicked out of the nursing program for his poor people skills once up a time, and though he had greatly improved with his patients, _people_ were still another matter altogether. 

“Jae isn’t answering his phone,” his mate sounded miserable, and he would have found that interesting if he wasn’t worried, “Right to voicemail.” 

“Where’s the audi? It’s his favorite.” 

“Outside, he didn’t take a car,” a heavy sigh sounds, “Which means-” 

“Council work,” Junsu interrupted, surprised by the agitation in his own voice, “But he just got a new wolf? What the fuck? Have they gone mad?” 

It is too early in the day for anyone to be so exhausted already, he wants nothing more than to drag himself upstairs, or maybe just to the sofa, and forget the world exists for a few hours. He could do so, he supposed, but it wouldn’t really do any of them well. Instead he slides onto the stool across from his mate and allows the semi-comfortable silence to lapse between them. 

What was the elder council thinking, really? Though he didn’t know if Jaejoong had been in contact with them much about Yunho it was still pretty fast to send him off again. Even more surprising because typically Shiina was rather cross about the whole situation in general. 

She didn’t like sending her baby brother off into danger, and frankly Junsu had to agree, but if Jaejoong himself wouldn’t refuse, well they couldn’t do anything about it. 

After what felt like ages Changmin began to fidget where he sat, dropping a hand to poke at the cell phone laying on the counter. 

“We’ll call Shiina, I guess. Ask where he is, when he’ll be back and...” 

“And what? Tell her the wolf he brought home is on a rampage and we cannot deal with him?” Junsu hissed quietly, “They’ll send someone to get him- to take him away-” 

“And why is that a problem for us exactly?” 

“Changmin!” he snapped indignantly, “You know _why_ we cannot do that.” 

“I don’t see why I should be protecting some brat.” 

“Yeah? And what about umma, huh? How do you think he will take it when he gets home and finds out you betrayed him again? If they’re... if Yunho is Jaejoong’s mate, Changmin, you will break Jaejoong forever. Nobody will be able to fix him this time.” 

The nurse falls silent, opens and closes his mouth and then bites back the nasty retort on his tongue. Junsu almost smirks his victory, until the taller man stands up and snatches the phone from the counter. 

He can hear it ringing just barely as Changmin walks away from him. 

\-----

_“_ _Changmin_ _!”_

The shout is distressed, somewhat distant, and answered by a rude shushing noise before the sound of a door clicking shut reaches her ear. 

It is early, much earlier than she would like to be dealing with Jaejoong’s family, with his children as he calls them, especially when life had kept her busy in her own right. But they are family, they all are, tiring as she finds them. 

“If someone is not dead or dying they will be soon,” she warns in lieu of a greeting, propping the phone between her ear and shoulder as she makes her way around the kitchen, fetching a bowl and then a glass from the cabinet, “do you know what time it is?” 

“ _Roughly 7-something in the morning?_ ” Changmin replies duly as though the timing is not unreasonable. 

Maybe it isn’t for a nurse, but she is not one. 

“On a Saturday! Christ, Min, what the hell do you want?” 

It is silence that follows, the slow draw of ‘ _well_ ' trails to nothing, but she waits with feigned patience for the young man to speak up. Too quickly it becomes apparent that Changmin has no intention to fill her in on the early morning disturbance and that strokes her temper. 

The door is swinging open again, the shuffle of feet and she can barely hear Junsu muttering, scolding his mate about making everything worse and how Jaejoong will never get over this so _get off the phone asshole_. It takes quite a bit to tip Junsu’s temper, typically, so she is suddenly concerned. 

“Changmin-ah.” 

“ _Just- just go away, fuck, get lost,_ _Su_ _, go take care of that stupid kid or something,_ ” the nurse snarls through the phone, and then the line goes mute entirely and she suspects they are arguing. 

Stupid kid? 

Nothing springs to mind at first, and the phone goes unmuted, Changmin is breathing somewhat heavily as though pained, and realization dawns on her as she titters at him through the phone. Right that new wolf her brother had gone for recently. 

“Changmin-ah, if you don’t open your mouth and explain yourself, I promise I will end you,” she threatens evenly, patiently, “What the hell is going on and where is my stupid brother? Wake him up and have him referee your couples therapy-” 

“ _Sunmi-noona_ ,” the nurse sounds pleading as he interrupts, the shake in his voice impossible to miss and she finds herself falling silent as she slides into a chair at the table, breakfast briefly forgotten. 

She feels like she’s going to hear something she isn’t prepared for, so sitting is probably her best bet. 

“ _Noona_ _,_ _Jaejoong_ _isn’t here. He... I don’t know, I think the council sent him off again. I... we were hoping you could drop by for a few days? Until things settle down._ " 

“Drop by to baby sit a house of grown men? Absolutely not. Is it the new wolf? That’s not my problem. Do you know how exhausting it is here? Between Jiyool and the new ba-” 

“ _Noona_ ,” the nurses voice is so firm she actually quiets down, and she finds she doesn’t mind either. 

Save for husband and daughter, they haven’t hold anybody she was expecting again, and she was pretty sure she wouldn’t be forgiven for telling Jaejoong’s ‘son’ before her blood siblings. 

“I’m listening.” 

“ _The wolf- the new one..._ _Yunho_ _. He’s very distressed Jae isn’t here and we don’t know where he is or how to calm him. I was hoping you and_ _Jiyool_ _could help?_ " 

“Why me? Why my _daughter_? They were saying it- _he_ was dangerous you know. Out of control, completely feral after what happened. Just call Shiina, or Miryo, you know she was advising Jaejae to put him down anyway.” 

Perhaps it's wrong, too cold to suggest they go behind her brother’s back, but if they were struggling with the young wolf? How on earth was her precious daughter supposed to help? And if the wolf was obsessed with the pack alpha? It didn’t make too much sense. She didn’t like it. 

_“I can’t,_ _noona_ _._ _Yunho_ _..._ _Yunho_ _is_ _Jaejoong’s_ _mate...”_

Sunmi pauses then, pulling the phone away and staring at it in alarm as though expecting the thing to come alive and laugh at her. 

Jaejoong’s mate? She’d practically given up on her brother ages ago, in fact they all had. With the way Jaejoong claimed it wasn’t his job to have a mate, to have anyone or belong to anyone so if they could all kindly bugger off. 

But now, he had a mate at home? And he had left him? 

_“Jae just took off, Yunho woke up alone and freaking out and I have a shift tonight, Junsu has work this afternoon I’m afraid to leave him alone. If something happens to Yunho...”_

_“_ Jaejoong will either kill you both, or himself,” she supplied duly, well acquainted with the loyal dramatics of their family’s youngest, “Lead with that next time, will you? We can be there before noon, just... behave. And go apologize to Junsu or I will punch you.” 

She doesn’t wait and disconnects that call before the nurse can either urge her to hurry or scoff at the way she sided with his mate. 

Though she has no idea what she will be walking into once she arrives, she is hoping it will be fine. Maybe if Yunho is sensible they could discuss a not-so-distant wedding. Mostly, she wonders what he must look like, perhaps small and cute? Pretty like her brother is? 

\-----

A hand rubs at his chest absently, it is ungodly early, or perhaps ungoldly late for his sleep has been fitful and practically nonexistent. Perhaps he had been too busy trying to look through the information he had. 

Sure, it had helped him set up the wall once he’d arrived at the hostel but that had done nothing to soothe the fact that he was tired. Tired, angry and a touch confused. 

Why did his chest ache? He was healthy, far too young for a heart attack, wasn’t he? 

That was why he didn’t do sweets, or too many snacks that tasted far too nice for how bad they were for him. 

“Am I dying?” the blonde murmured, dropping his fingers from his chest to his wrist in an attempt to count out the rate of his pulse. 

It certainly would be a first for him. Would the stress of a task be the thing to do him in? Was it just too much paired with... the mess of everything back home? 

As much as he wanted to say he wasn’t a runner, that he didn’t run from his problems... That was only half true. 

“Coward,” he scolded himself, “Useless coward.” 

He hadn’t usually had a reason to run. Most problems were best solved head on, he found it easy to stand rigid, the pillar to keep the people around him on their feet and upright. Whether those who needed him were the members of his family, a stranger on the street or a member of the council who was facing a less than easy scenario didn’t really matter. 

The distinction though, was that the problems were never his own. 

His late parents hadn’t been devastated to learn the only male of their brood was not ideal. They hadn’t hesitated or been surprised to find that he looked at men alongside most of his sisters. Probably because Shiina had had a girlfriend for as long as he could remember, but it was supposed to be different because he was their son. 

He was their hope, their legacy and he was being treacherous and selfish and throwing it all away without even trying to change. They were supposed to be angry and disappointed in him, they were supposed to justify how guilty he felt, instead he just felt guilty for hating himself. 

It didn’t matter if he was the first son, last one or only one. His family had loved him regardless and the only thing his mother had wanted for him had been his happiness. When he hadn’t found it before she had passed away, he had suspected it was because he was exactly where he was supposed to be. 

Helping others was enough. He had failed once when he was young, and he had found his redemption in a 16-year-old Shim Changmin when he had been just 18 himself. He never had looked back, instead he had started to build up a space for the lost or the damned and damaged. 

The rest of himself, his preferences and peculiarities? Those would be ignored, suppressed until they disappeared and they had. 

Had been forgotten and all but gone, until Yunho. 

_You should not have left home_. 

Of course, Lamb would chime in then, helpfully unhelpful as the wolf had been lately. 

_Yunho_ _needs you_. 

“Yunho is fine, these children need me,” Jaejoong hisses, pinching the bridge of his nose as he paced the room. 

The lost children, being stolen, trafficked or murdered. They needed him, and he needed to help them and their families. 

_We need him, too._

It is the sound of glass shattering that startles Jaejoong, he feels sort of like he has been ripped out of his body and then thrown back into it. 

The coffee mug that had been sitting on the table cluttered with too many papers without a proper home yet lay in scattered pieces on the janky tiled floor of the kitchen where he had thrown it. 

No, he was not going to do this now. He couldn’t. 


	27. Twenty Five

Yunho? 

Yunho had been what his traitorous wolf had been keeping from him? Never before had he wished to find a way to sever the beast from his conscious mind, but now that he did, he was disappointed he knew of no such tricks. 

How could he, at his age, gaze into the face of his mate and have no idea? 

_You did not want to know._

It was like a taunt, snaking through his conscious that left him growling. 

Neither Lamb, nor Yunho, were the sort of distraction he needed. Jaejoong couldn’t afford to be distracted at all. 

The hood of the thin, tattered sweatshirt was pulled up over his head, fingertips barely peeking out from the ends of fraying sleeves, and though it wasn’t particularly cold there was a chill lingering in the air that seemed to creep into his bones. He felt stiff, as though his limbs refused to work properly, and instead of wandering through the poorly lit street like he belonged there, he moved awkwardly like a fawn over an icy lake. 

He wanted to sit back, to meld into the shadows and watch, instead he was making a spectacle of himself. 

“Wrong neighborhood, Bambi?” 

Her voice was like honey, thick and sweet, comforting, but he found himself startled by it. For a moment his eyes were wide, glassy and unseeing as his vision battled the shadows. 

She was lovely, with long glossy hair that cascaded around her shoulders, large bright eyes and a smile that looked _so_ real and pretty. There was something about her that screamed comfort, and something in his mind that urged him closer, as though the stranger could soothe away all of the problems plaguing his heart and soul. 

“Bambi?” Jaejoong caught himself parroting, head tilting slightly as he inched toward where she stepped under a golden street light, as though it were a spotlight on a stage. 

“It’s the eyes,” it isn’t the first time he’s heard such a thing, but it is the first he’s heard it so casually from a stranger, “So expressive, you’re looking a bit frightened, are you lost?” 

If he was lost and afraid, was she going to protect him? He nearly scoffed, nearly, she’s at least a head shorter than he is, and while in hind sight that means nothing, it does add a faint, comical element to their conversation. It shouldn’t, he knows, for he is taller than each of his sisters and any of them could kick his ass, however it probably doesn’t count for he would never lay a hand on them unless absolutely necessary anyway. 

Chivalry only extended so far; while his parents raised him to respect people and boundaries and not pick on someone weaker than he was, his mother had more than often reminded him that women were able to possess the same threat as anyone else. 

Even more so, she is a wolf and he can smell it on her, and that in itself places her on the same level he stands. 

“I’m new to the area,” he admits, wetting his lips with his tongue and after a moment he amends, “just visiting. My mom called, my little sister... I promised to bring her home.” 

His voice breaks in the middle, and the breath he takes is shuddering as though attempting to calm himself. 

The little sister he doesn’t have, the mother who isn’t alive, but the images flash through his mind all the same, the girls and the boys who have gone missing over the months- the years. How many of them are dead? It is a morbid thought that makes him shiver despite himself. 

“We get a lot of runaways here, you wouldn’t believe how often we end up calling the sheriffs to get them home,” she offers up with a faint chuckle, “I think the kids who filter through think there isn’t anything here except for some older folks who won’t bother them. Makes for a safe place to hide and just a bus or a train from home.” 

She isn’t wrong, he had made plans to run away from home to Busan for exactly those reasons well over a decade ago following a petty argument with one or two of his sisters. 

However, at the end of the day Busan isn’t any safer than anywhere else, in fact it is even more dangerous because of predators taking advantage of a naïve misconception. 

“Have you...” Jaejoong began to ask, stopping with a rueful smile and a shallow bow, “Sorry, it’s late and it’s been a long day, I’m sorry to disturb you.” 

As soon as he straightens up his feet are already moving, carrying him eagerly away from the woman. She feels nostalgic somehow, not because he feels as though they have met before, but because someone about her reminds him of his late mother and it unnerves him. 

“Bambi-ah,” the name floats past him, and although his instincts scream desperately at him to run, the blonde freezes instead, “I spoke to you first, no? You aren’t bothering me.” 

Although he nods curtly he doesn’t turn to look, neither does the apology leave his mouth as he stiffly begins his walk once again. 

“Bambi-ah,” he nearly growls that time, but stops short as she continues, “There was a little girl around here a few hours ago... she smelt like you.” 

Those words cause his feet to stop violently, eyes flashing as he rounds on her so quickly the woman with the honey like voice briefly looks startled before she settles again. She reminds him of sand in the ocean, calming seamlessly no matter how violently shaken. 

Where, he nearly bellows, agitation is starting to prick at his skin. There was no little girl that shares his blood, much less his scent in Busan, but she tells him so easily that he had nearly questioned himself. 

Before Jaejoong can force another word from his mouth something shiny glints under the street light and distracts him. Too late, he realizes he is in trouble, that the jumbled mess of his mind and emotions and the stubborn way he is blocking Lamb from his headspace is the wrong way to go about things. 

Now he finds himself staring down the barrel of a pistol, a weapon he is both familiar and unfamiliar with. Hunters use them, and those instances are the only experience he has ever had handling them himself. Silver bullets were deadly more often than not, and massively damaging, and while he doubted the wolf in front of him had any of those... 

Well, he didn’t think he would fair too well if she were to shoot him in the face. 

The blonde is a mess, surging with panic and distress, with anger at himself for being so careless, but mostly he is angry with himself for the tiny distressed voice in the back of his mind. But if he died there, he wouldn’t get to see Yunho again, he wouldn’t be able to tell him... 

And damn it all, surely that should not have been the first worry in his mind to slip through. 

“Children have been going missing from this area, now suddenly there is a strange man going around with a sob story about a missing little girl?” all of the warmth is gone from her voice now, “Would you have said the same thing to a child as you shoved them into the trunk of a car?” 

“You think I’m a kidnapper?” Jaejoong shouts without being able to stop his mouth, his voice pitches upwards more than he would like his distress and utter confusion, but he doesn’t miss the way she flinches at the sound, “You’re the lunatic out here pointing a gun in my face!” 

And he was merely the fool shouting at said lunatic in a public space, they were two peas in a pod really. 

“I am a police officer,” she growls in warning, hands steady even as one drops from the holster of the gun to fetch something from the inside of her jacket. 

It is shiny and gold on black and as it flips open he catches that there is an ID card sporting a photo of a woman on it, but it is too quick and he doesn’t get an actual look at anything. 

“You’re going to come with me for questioning.” 

“Oh, thank goodness,” he interrupts despite the gun trained on him, eyes flickering to the woman’s hip as she fusses to free a pair of metal bracelets from her belt, “I’m a detective from Seoul, I suppose I’m not important enough for everyone to be alerted to my presence.” 

He tries not to sound annoyed about it, but really wasn’t that the point of playing nice with the locals? Even if his whole story was a sham, he was trying to keep the locals out of his way. A local wolf, well that was just annoying. That she seemed startled by his explanation was annoying, but he pretended not to notice the way the comforting welcoming look on her face had briefly hardened to a glare. 

“May I?” 

“No.” 

“Well, if you would so kindly shove your hand down my pants-” 

“Yah!” 

“Pocket. My ID badge is there.” 

Despite the agitation rising from the woman she seems to accept his words. To his dismay the gun is not lowered from his being, but rather pressed into his side as she steps closer, pulling at his sweater so she can dip her fingers into his pocket. He refrains from pointing out that he could probably over throw her, mostly because he knows her fingers are pressed to the trigger of the pistol, at the angle if she only shoots him once he’ll probably be okay if he can get his wits about him and get emergency on the line. If she shoots him again or prevents him from getting to his phone, assuming he hold himself together... 

Well he would rather not test it out. 

“Detective Ok Taecyeon?” she murmurs, and finally after an aeon, though only a moment in reality, the gun is lowered from his being, “What is some bigshot detective from Seoul doing all the way out here?” 

\-----

Waking Jiyool in the morning was usually a battle, although she loved her daughter, and her husband and she knew all of her siblings looked to her for guidance of what a happy, healthy home was after their parents passing... Well they were not there to see hell unfold each morning. 

Matthew was better about waking up than she was, but her husband was usually up and out of the door and all she saw of him early was the message left on the dry erase board on their fridge. 

Her alarm started going off at 6 am each morning, it usually took at least 3 rounds of hitting snooze before she would rise from the dead to splash cold water on her face and start a pot of coffee. Except lately it was a light tea, which meant she was a little more of a zombie than usual. 

By 8:30 she would begin attempting to wake Jiyool, who was as stubborn and difficult as Jaejoong had been as a child. Somehow when her mother always told her life would come back to bite her for picking on her brother, she hadn’t expected it to happen literally. Or maybe it was more the old wives tale about a child turning out like the person on disliked the most while pregnant. 

One comment from Jaejoong had soured her to him for her whole pregnancy, and even now, 5 years later, she was still paying for it. 

She still remembers the day she’s called and requested all of her siblings to their parents home excited to announce the happy news. Not only had Jaejoong been running late, but the boy had looked at her for about a second and a half before he had whistled at her. 

_‘_ _Noona_ _you’re getting fat.’_

_Sometimes_ she still got a little bit angry when she thought about it. But not now, and certainly not for the better part of the next year, she had made that mistake before. 

Of course though, the one trait she would have praised little Jaejoong for was his ability to wake up and function in the morning, which naturally meant that was the one personality trait the girl didn’t inherit. 

She had expected a terrible morning full of shouting from the bottom of the stairs and threats to ban television shows, and yet it was like she had discovered the door to a secret garden. Jiyool had half woken up when asked if she wanted to go visit Mimi and Susu, but when had really gotten the little bugger out of bed was asking if she wanted to meet JaeJae’s mate. 

In the end, it had been the 5 year old squealing and attempting to usher her out of the house as fast as humanly possible, instead of Sunmi hauling a half asleep child to the car. 

That was how they had arrived an hour early to Jaejoong’s house. 

She hadn’t expected Changmin or Junsu to be sitting on the front porch waiting for her, though. 

“Noona,” Junsu greets cheerfully as she steps out of the car, and she is happy to receive him into a hug. 

Changmin straggles behind, waiting and as soon as the back door of the car opens a squawking Jiyool goes barreling into the nurse, nearly knocking him over as she jumps into his legs. 

“Careful, Jiyool!” Sunmi quips after her, massaging her forehead, “Between Jiyool and Jaejoong I’m not going to survive, I swear.” 

“Mama can I go inside? Mimi said okay!” 

“No kitchen,” is the answer she gives, waving a dismissive hand. 

She pretends the battle cry is not alarming as her hyper daughter disappears into the house, she might have been more alarmed if the house wasn’t relatively Jiyool proofed already. 

As the nurse approaches, she leans back against the door of the SUV, arms folded neatly across her chest as she tries to decide who, if anyone she should be annoyed with. Not Jaejoong she hopes, she doesn’t want another one. 

Perhaps she’ll pick a petty argument with her husband later and end up with an easy-going baby. 

Yet that is a subject she’ll need to circle back to later. 

“Alright children, tell Auntie Sunmi what is going on, start from the beginning.” 

The pair pauses and exchange a look but otherwise remain silent as they eye her wearily. 

“A trick,” Changmin is the first to speak, taking a step backwards and inching behind Junsu, “You’re gonna do that thing, aren’t you? One second you’re auntie because Jaejoong is umma, and the next you’re gonna go full harpy because you think we’re calling you old. No way, you cannot trick me _noona_.” 

\-----

Just like her mama tells her, she doesn’t go into the kitchen. She did however peak into the space, eyes searching, but she doesn’t find what she is looking for, and not even the cookie jar sitting on the counter temps her from her mission. 

Uncle JaeJae has a mate now, is what her mama told her, and they would get to meet him today. She is very glad it is a him, because if it was a girl that means there would be a new baby and then she wouldn’t be her uncle’s favorite munchkin anymore because he would have his own munchkins. 

Although Changmin and Junsu are uncle JaeJae’s babies she knows they don’t count, because they are too big to be munchkins, but a new baby would be exactly munchkin sized, and she doesn’t want anything to do with that. 

Her mama is going to have a new baby anyway, but they had already had a talk about that baby being something like a dumpling instead and she is certain she can get her uncle JaeJae to agree to that. 

Jiyool’s pigtails bounce as she climbs the stairs as fast as she can, hands gripping at each piece of railing as she goes. 

From there, she marches toward her uncle’s bedroom. The door is slightly open, but it is dark inside. 

Although she doesn’t have a watch and she cannot tell time she glances down at her wrist all the same and decides it is now officially awake o’clock. She pushes the door open and quickly scurries inside of the space she is familiar with and climbs right onto the armchair by the door as she flips the switch so bright light illuminates the room. 

When she turns around and jumps to the floor her eyes roam to the bed and she catches a pair of bright golden eyes staring at her. 

Jiyool’s eyes go wide for a moment, and then she shrieks her delight as loud as she can without alerting her mama outside as she goes running toward the edge of the bed. 

“You are fabulous!” the little girl gushes, she leans herself into the edge of the bed, a bit too tall for her to climb onto without help, and props her chin into her palms as she gazes at the man staring at her, “I think I love you. I’m Jiyool! You’re my new uncle, what is your name?” 

The man sits up suddenly, and for a moment he looks scared, looking around the room and then back down at her. He closes his eyes and shakes his head, which Jiyool giggles at, when he looks back at her a minute later her eyes are dark and she coos quietly at the change. 

“Help me up!” she demands, outstretching her arms as far as she can reach. 

It only takes a second of her opening and closing her palms before her hands are taken, and as though she weighs nothing at all, he pulls and Jiyool smooths her dress as she takes a seat on the bed. 

“Thanks, you’re so strong. I’m glad you aren’t a girl,” she shares, tilting her head to one side, “When are you going to tell me your name? Rudie.” 

That seems to snap the bubble of hesitation surrounding him, Jiyool is trying hard to be patient, but that only works so well. 

“Oh, uh, I’m Yunho,” he speaks slowly, as though he still isn’t sure of the situation, “Why... Why are you here?” 

“Mama brought me here, I can’t drive yet,” she informs, just a little bit surprised Yunho didn’t know, “We’re here to meet you!” 


	28. Twenty Six (Trigger Warning)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> STOP!
> 
> This chapter contains mentions of self-injury and semi-graphic (I don't consider it graphic but yanno) violence and murder. If this makes you uncomfortable this particular bit of this story is not for you. You will roughly want to stop reading at about "His fingers tighten and pull and he thrashes more, throwing his head back and forth, trying to escape from a nightmare or throw the blindfold off, he doesn’t know anymore." and start reading... in part 27, at some point.
> 
> If you do skip there will be a second TL;DR note at the bottom.

Jiyool is a pretty little thing, if not a little bit jarring. She’s loud and seems unable to grasp onto the concept of danger at all. His wolf very well could have ripped her to pieces, she had just barged in, loud and wild like she owned the space. 

She might have had a better claim to it than he actually did, but her presence had been unexpected and he didn’t really do well with surprises of late. He hadn’t done poorly this time, at least. 

Though he really had no idea what to make of Jiyool so far. 

She was Jaejoong’s niece, and it was eerie how much they looked a like. If the stories were right, she was just as much a little menace as Jaejoong had been at her age. It was almost difficult to grasp, the blonde seemed to be kind and fair, maybe overly nice to those who didn’t deserve it. 

“You’re thinking sooo loud, I can _hear_ you,” the little girl grumbles suddenly, poking at his cheek with two fingers, “Why are you sad?” 

“Oh, I... I miss Jaejoong, I suppose,” she was little, there probably was no good reason for him to scar her with concepts she didn’t understand. 

“Mama said you’re uncle JaeJae’s mate.” 

Oh, well Yunho hadn’t been expecting... His brow furrowed before he could push the expression away. He certainly hadn’t spoken to any one of the alpha’s sisters, that left Junsu and Changmin didn’t it? How had anyone gotten the idea that he... they? He hadn’t exactly shared his thoughts with either of them. 

Everything in him was growing increasingly desperate, determined to reach out and grab hold of the blonde and never let him go again. It probably wasn’t proper, wouldn’t be good for either them perhaps. Jaejoong was probably better off without him, he knew well enough that he came with a few too many problems. He just couldn’t bring himself to back off, to fuck off properly. 

If his wolf was so set, so demanding, surely that had to mean it wasn’t one sided. Jaejoong was his, and that was why Jaejoong hadn’t sent him away. He just wasn’t sure how to approach. The quiet thing between them had been rather pleasant, but whatever was between them had seemed to be... fragile. 

Indeed, it must have been, given that Jaejoong had shuffled out of bed with a whisper that he would be right back, and then he just hadn’t returned. 

The thought made his chest constrict again, like a blade had been implanted into his ribs and every so often someone thought it was funny to twist it just to watch him squirm. 

“I care about your uncle a lot.” 

“I thought you would be liiiittle,” Jiyool explained, squinting her eyes at him as she held up both of her hands, attempting to leave as little space between them as possible, “But you’re big! You’re bigger than uncle JaeJae is.” 

There was something, Yunho thought, that sounded like amazement in her voice, like she was just looking at him for the first time. 

“I am bigger than he is, you’re right,” he agreed, reaching out the ruffle Jiyool’s bangs, “Do you mind?” 

Did she mind that there was no auntie in the picture? Perhaps that was why Jaejoong’s sister was there. Maybe it was better that Jaejoong was not there when they asked him to leave. 

“Nope! You can take care of him, right? Mama says uncle JaeJae needs a real man, are you one? You can give him a biiig hug right? Like this!” 

Yunho barely has time to process the words, Jiyool is on her feet and launching herself at him without any further warning. 

His heart is racing just a little bit as he manages to get his arms out to catch hold of the little girl before she managed to go toppling over his shoulder into the headboard. She was fine, if she way she giggled like some kind of madwoman said anything of it, but he was anxious all the same and his mind was reeling. 

He could not process and function at the same time. 

He stood up instead, holding fast to the squirming girl without actually squeezing her. 

“Carry me like a princess,” Jiyool demands, flipping one of her pigtails over her shoulder. 

Despite it perhaps being a bad idea, Yunho obliges her anyway, settling the girl so she lays back in his arms like a babe, a bride or well a princess apparently. He is careful as he slides through the doorway, raising his shoulder to shield her head and pivoting so her ankle doesn’t knock into the doorframe. 

Going down the stairs is much the same as he moves slowly, half sideways. 

The sharp pain that had been pulsing in his chest since his eyes opened had started to quiet into a dull throb. It is annoying, but he can suck it up and deal, he really can. 

“Where to princess Jiyool?” 

“I saw cookies in the kitchen.” 

\-----

His head feels heavy. His shoulders ache, and so does everything else the moment he thinks about it. 

The noise in the back of his throat is strangled as he lifts his head, well aware of the way his spine pops and cracks in protest, or perhaps relief in the movement. Maybe he nearly moans in relief as some of the tension eases, or perhaps he was just groaning because he aches again. 

It’s dark, even with his eyes open the room is too dark and everything swims in a haze of deep grey. His eyes usually don’t take that long to adjust, so he is just a little bit panicked. Each time his eyes open and close the sensation is uncomfortable and after the nth time it begins to click. 

_We’re blind._ Lamb howls in distress and Jaejoong shakes his head violently trying to right his vision. 

He wasn’t blind just... blind folded, it seemed. 

Being blind folded begs the question of _how_ , though, and where the fuck is he, even? It’s all hazy as he tries to think back. Even remembering the place he was last is difficult for a moment. Yunho, Yunho is the last thing he remembers. 

But he bites back the urge to open his mouth and call out for the teenager, quite literally. There is the faintest taste of copper on his tongue and he shifts. 

Jaejoong’s attempt to stand doesn’t work. Something is keeping him firmly in place, but he cannot quite tell if that something happens to be rope, tape or both. He knows it’s metal that is biting into his wrists as he tries to move them, he knows the cuffs have silver in them because of the way his skin burns as it presses into his wrist through a hole in his sleeve, but they aren’t pure because he feels heavy and exhausted and achy, but his skin isn’t blistering yet. 

“ _But not careful enough_ ,” a voice snarls, it isn’t close but it is drawing near, “ _Or we wouldn’t have some hotshot detective from Seoul here, would we?_ ” 

Oh. Oh, that’s right. He has Taecyeon’s badge in his pocket, or he thinks he still does, he had it at least before- earlier. 

“ _That has nothing to do with me, besides I brought you the detective, did I not?_ ” 

Jaejoong knows that voice, it sounds like honey would, lulling and sweet, sticky, but sweets make him nauseous, and now he remembers why. How the woman, petite as she was got the jump on him, he doesn’t remember, but he cannot help but curse himself. 

How could he be so stupid, so foolish? Every warning flag in the book should have been going off, police officer? He’d believed it too easily, had been tricked just as effortlessly as he had tricked the woman. Except while Jaejoong now understood that she was not a police officer, she seemed to buy into his identity as a detective, and that seemed to be what drove her to... 

Kidnap him? 

Oh, he would never hear the end of how much of a fool he was for getting into a car with strangers again. 

It was a rookie mistake, the likes of which he hadn’t made since he was a teenager, or close to it. 

“ _Sure, you brought him, but now it’s my job to get rid of the bastard._ ” 

Now that, that sounded quite unpleasant really. 

“ _Just shoot him._ ” 

The level of cold, callus to the words causes him to shiver. They’re not men really, they’re monsters, although he doesn’t particularly consider it a personal matter. Their plans to dispose of him aren’t what pushes the scale beyond reason. 

It’s the children, the aspect of hunting, if he is to assume a group of hunters aren’t co-existing separately from the people kidnapping young children, mostly young wolves, but that the group is one and the same he knows it is. It is a unique and particularly cruel way to try and cull their existence. Jaejoong can’t exactly wrap his mind around the feeling of losing a child for he simply never has, so he cannot begin to imagine having other children after the loss of one. Did they feel like a replacement, was it an attempt to fill the void, guarantee a future? Such a feeling would probably shy at least some away, creating a war between mental and biological needs. 

The wolves were still people, at the end of the day, differences aside. Most packs, most wolves were content to blend into society, and the rest tended to stick closer to the country side with more open land and air. There were issues sometimes, but they tended to that well within their own society, the mortals needed to be protected, undisturbed. 

Hunters were just fanatics, conspiracy nuts who technically weren’t entirely wrong, but weren’t right either. Latching onto the idea that they thirsted for human flesh to feast upon was incorrect, but they were hunted for it all the same, for being something sentient that wasn’t entirely human. Sometimes it was for reasons as simple as their pelts, if they were shifted, nothing more than a trophy to hang up when deer no longer provided a challenge. 

_Drifting, drifting, la_ _la_ _la_ _, wake up!_

Jaejoong’s missed part of the conversation now, he knows, caught up in a swirl of thoughts. It is hardly the time to justify himself regardless of who he lashes out violently against, he didn’t strike first this time, there is hardly any guilt to be felt, assuming he walks away intact. 

Death will hang heavy in the air, he just doesn’t know whose it will be, yet. His, if he doesn’t get out of the damned cuffs. 

He can’t shift, sliver aside, his hands being locked behind him the way they are will only guarantee that the limbs break, the pain will cause him to black out and then he’ll be completely helpless to defend himself. If he lasts long enough to regain consciousness what could he do with two broken limbs? 

Pulling at the cuffs is annoying, they’re not particularly tight around his wrists, rattling and sliding up around, burning at his fingers as he twists one hand to try and pull free, but they catch at the base of his hand, thumb in the way. 

_Break it, get out. Go chase._ It’s more beast than usual, all growls and anger and frustration. 

If he twists one wrist, he can get his right hand to close around his left; palms pressed together as he braces the base of his right hand at his left thumb, fingers curling around his hands. The blonde squeezes experimentally, testing at the pressure and nausea seats itself deeply in the pit of his stomach. 

_My teeth, they hunger. Go now! Now, now,_ _now_ _!_

He growls, thrashing slightly in his restraints as he battles against the wolf within him. Jaejoong keeps Lamb on a tight leash; the beast is placid, most of the time, reasonable, but once something tips Lamb into a frenzy there is no reigning it back. It is a lust insatiable, a thrum of chaotic wrath that can only be sated by gore. Sometimes he can push the wolf into a corner, until it behaves for stretches as long two seasons at a time, and sometimes he finds himself prowling around the woods on his property, tearing about any animal that so much as breathes too close. 

Usually, the animals he hunts are more monster than anything. Hunters, rogue wolves beyond saving. 

It was supposed to be Yunho. A young, feral wolf that lost his pack, maddened by grief and beyond saving. If it had been someone else, anyone else, he would have put them down, would have given in to the way Lamb had been rumbling, restless, _starving_. But there had been a pull, something slight that had pained his soul and quieted his bloodlust. 

That would not be happening again, not today. 

Lamb was pushing past a point of listening, battering at the edges of his sanity, demanding and threatening to rip through his skin and shift. It’d be suicide, he would be crippled but his beast was hardly able to comprehend the situation anymore. 

Hunt or be hunted, and there was only one acceptable answer. 

They’re still chattering outside, arguing because they’re growing louder. Either they don’t care if he hears or they forget to account for his hearing, she’s a wolf though, she probably knows. 

It doesn’t matter, Jaejoong can’t hear them anymore, his head is too loud, thoughts racing, circling around the screaming that is more white noise than anything else. 

He squeezes at his hand despite the lead that feels like it is lining his stomach; cold sweat is matting at his hair, darkening the pale blonde around his hairline and the back of his neck, his t-shirt is practically glued to his skin beneath the threadbare hoodie that is too hot, like flames licking his skin. 

Jaejoong opens his mouth to protest because _no, he cannot,_ but the noise that leaves his throat isn’t human any longer, but the same deep rumbly growl that violently vibrates in his chest. 

His fingers tighten and pull and he thrashes more, throwing his head back and forth, trying to escape from a nightmare or throw the blindfold off, he doesn’t know anymore. 

Something _snaps_ and he lurches forward violently, as far as he can get as he howls in pain. He feels sick, violently ill as bile climbs up the back of his throat until he heaves and gags. Swallowing back the foul taste is hardly an option, he is helpless to do anything beyond cough, stomach acid and saliva spraying and dripping down his front, along his lap and down to the floor. 

Jaejoong is hot and cold and dizzy, and he barely registers that the persistent growl has been fractured by pitiful whimpers as tears pool behind his closed eyes. He’s going to die, is a thought that crosses his mind, all he wants to do is curl up and sleep and go numb. 

He doesn’t register that it’s gone quiet somewhere outside, and then there is laughter as the sound returns. 

_“What a baby, easier to break than I thought.”_

_“The hotshot detective can’t sit still for a few hours? How grand.”_

He doesn’t hear the words, and wouldn’t care anyway, because he is spitting another mouthful of foul over himself as he shakes and Lamb practically screeches at him to _stop it_. 

He’s been in worse pain, he’s been closer to death, but it had always been stifled by shock or adrenaline, never this. Never such a clear self-inflicted agony that had left him anxious and sick even before the pain had arrived, it was practically torture, knowing it was coming. It was worse, knowing it wasn’t over. 

The bone in his hand was mangled, and though he tried to disassociate the knowledge from his mind that is still the part where he has to force his hand through the metal cuff. It would be possible, but not easy. The longer he waited, the worse it would be, there was so much to do, so much. 

Jaejoong tried of think of everything, anything he could to distract himself; he bit down on his lower lip until his teeth split the flesh as he wriggled the metal circlet along his hand, and then he strained his legs against the rope wound tightly around his ankles in the hopes it would help. Nothing actually helps all too much, a third round of bile slithers up his throat, and he doesn’t even care as it drips down his chin, acrid smell clinging to his clothes. 

Either he fidgets for 3 minutes or 30, he doesn’t know how long, but finally his left hand slips free from one side of the silver and he folds in on himself as his arms swing free. His tears might be more relief than pain now but he doesn’t particularly care, he fingers run along the scratchy fabric secured over his eyes and he rips it off hastily, grunting as spots flutter before his eyes with the sudden reintroduction to the concept of light. 

He can see and his hands are free, but he is painfully aware that he can hardly move his thumb, if at all and now he has only one hand to free himself from the blasted chair. That takes time, and he is clumsy in his haste, anxious that the door is going to swing open and a bullet will seat itself between his eyes before he can even look up to see it coming. 

Thankfully, his captors are nothing if not thorough, stupid is probably the word for it, though. They’re too busy planning the information they’re trying to get, to see who is on their tail, and how they’re going to be rid of him without drawing too much smoke. 

“ _We’re going to have to hold him for a while, leave a trail that leads them away from here. Maybe if his body turns up out by Incheon..._ ” 

_“That, actually that might work.”_

_“Of course it’ll work, don’t sound so surprised.”_

Once he unties the rope from his ankles, Jaejoong shoots to his feet. He isn’t even surprised to find the room spinning violently before it seemed to stop suddenly. Lamb was clawing at him, scratching at his mind in a demand to be let out, to shift. If he was just a little bit weaker he would be completely lost under the beast, unable to control himself. He’s lost his voice already, growling and panting through his teeth as he attempts to soothe himself back to being more man than beast. 

He doesn’t want to shift, not before he has to, afraid he would be able to put down weight down on his left side at all, he’d better off with one opposable thumb than three legs, for now. Besides, he has no idea what will happen to the bone when he shifts, will it break again? Will he just feel it again? 

He’s a wolf, so he heals faster than a human, but it isn’t a super-human ability. His bones don’t snap into place immediately, his skin doesn’t draw itself back together instantly either. Bruises fade in a couple of days instead of weeks, his wounds scab over, within reason, in minutes instead of hours. The full moon helps, but he isn’t Wolverine, and even if he was there was silver still circles around one of his wrists. 

The room around him is empty, Jaejoong notes with a certain amount of distress. The only thing inside if the chair he was in, which is so helpfully bolted to the floor. 

“Just a little longer,” he rasps, “I’ll let you out, we’ll get them. Just a little longer.” 

_Hmmm._

It could be a growl, an agreement or a dismissal, Jaejoong can’t tell. 

Carefully he sits back down, arranging himself in the chair so the ropes lay against his feet, he pushes the blindfold back over his eyes and leans back, bringing his hands together behind his back. 

And then, he waits. 

\-----

It didn’t take long, but they sure take their time. By the time the door swings open Jaejoong is halfway to dozing in an attempt to escape the throb in his hand. 

His rest is rudely disturbed, the blindfold is snatched from his head, and with it more than a few strands of his hair. Jaejoong squints and snarls, jerking in a violent twitch, but otherwise keeps himself still. 

“Nasty,” the man breathes, nose wrinkling, “The fuck is wrong with him?” 

He smells, and looks horrible, and he cannot bring himself to care, merely snarling again. 

The man is tall, burly, bulkier than he is, but he’s just a man, human as they come. Briefly, he forgets, forgets the other wolf in the room until she clears her throat and his eyes snap in her direction. 

“Bitch,” he growls. 

“Now now, Bambi, settle down,” she croons with a predatory smile, tipping her head to one side, “He’s a wolf, we put him in silver cuffs.” 

The look of realization that dawns on the man’s face makes him want to roll his eyes, he suspects he plays stupid on purpose. 

“Never quite seen one so sensitive to it,” the hunter sounds so delighted. 

An injured wolf is a deadly wolf, but if the wolf is too weak then it might as well be a broken dog. 

They seem to think he is the latter. The man draws near and a hand ghosts over his cheek, stroking almost gently. Jaejoong doesn’t move much, he attempts to jerk his head away and gets nowhere. 

“You should be carefull” the woman warns, and Jaejoong is inclined to agree, but men were stupid sometimes. 

This one, is stupid. 

“Doesn’t look capable of doing much, hm? Shame, he’s almost perfect, just a little younger and I’d keep him for himself,” the man murmurs, not bothering to hide his disappointment as he cards a hand through the blonde’s sweaty hair, tugging harshly at it, “I’d keep you chained up like a good little bitch. Breed you like the pretty whore you are.” 

“We’re not here for a lay, Seunghwan,” she snaps, “You’re going to tell us what you know. How did you know to come to Busan? Are you here alone?” 

Jaejoong stares, gaze blank as he looks from the woman to the man, Seunghwan. They don’t intend to keep him alive, not if they’re giving up their names. 

“Neither of you will put your hands on another child.” 

“Oh, look, the pretty whore has jokes,” Seunghwan croons, and the hands are back, brushing at his face, his hair, “If you’re good for us, I’ll make sure to fuck you before we dispose of you, give you a nice memory to go with.” 

He has to fight to keep him still, Lamb’s temper is flaring up again. _Soon! You promised! Promised!_

He does his best to ignore the man who seems more enamored in taking him than fishing for information. He’s going against all of their supposed planning, and he can practically taste the prickle of anger on the other wolf’s tongue. She won’t, he thinks, do anything though, from what he can tell she’s subservient to him and he doesn’t seem to respect her at all. 

It is all a bit hilarious, really. They’re both scum. 

“You’d do well to tell us what you know, Bambi.” 

What he knows? He smiles at that, smiles despite the hand touching his face _again_ , he even leans into the touch a little bit, nuzzling against an open palm as he watches the strange delight that causes the hunter’s eyes to cloud over. 

“You’re both going to die,” Jaejoong purrs, turning his head and pressing a butterfly kiss to the palm as it slides too close to his mouth, “Gonna kill you both. Thought about sparing one of you, leaving you here broken and bloody, clinging to life for your friends to find you, what a nice message that’d be. You, not her. Bitch, foul, rotten awful _bitch,_ selling out your own kind, can’t forgive that. No, no.” 

The air turns stale, tense, whether they think he is an absolute mental case or they’re just annoyed, he doesn’t know. Perhaps he is an absolute mental case and that is why they should be nervous. He did, after all, break his own hand, and as it throbs that time, Jaejoong giggles, just a little bit, because he’s anxious. 

“I want to keep him,” the hunted growls suddenly, “he’s half mad already, he’ll be easy to break.” 

There is a mouth pressing to his own, it is a violent happening, one that disturbs the split in his lip, a flurry of teeth and tongue that Jaejoong gives into easily as a slick tongue fucks into his mouth. 

Jaejoong waits only a moment, just enough to see if Seunghwan has the brain power to gather his wits, to catch his mistake, he doesn’t. Jaejoong growls, allows his head to be forced back further by the man hovering over him as he is tasted. 

And then, rather suddenly, the blonde has had enough. His teeth catch the pink muscle harshly and he bites down, unrelenting despite the startled, strangled noise above him. There is a hand around his throat, squeezing and one in his hair pulling, ripping violently as the taste of copper and acrid panic floods his mouth. He has half a mind to bite clean through the muscle, almost does, but the man wenches himself away and he tumbles backwards violently to the floor as though trying to get the fuck away from the blonde as fast as possible. 

He spits, blood and saliva to the floor, some of it drips down his chin, stains his teeth. 

“Not just half mad,” Jaejoong whispers. 

He’s on his feet next, and there is a look of dawning horror that flashes through both of their eyes, panic and fear and Lamb practically keens. He holds up his hands, wiggling his fingers with a cruel smirk on his face, the dark has completely bled out of his eyes, replaced by cornflower blue. 

He changes in the blink of an eye, gone is the battered, waif like man who was in too much pain with too little sleep, and instead stands a pale wolf with pale, pale eyes. 

The pain doesn’t even register anymore, _catch, catch, catch, hunt!_ His thoughts circle inelegantly. 

The silver that had been locked around his hand falls, clatters to the floor and he leaps, ignoring the whimpering man on the floor as he scrambles and attempts to flee. 

His focus is the petite woman, she’s mid shift by the time he barrels into her, pinning the smaller form to the ground with a snarl. 

She’s caught for just a half second, like she can’t decide if she should submit or fight, and that flicker of indecision ends her life ultimately. 

His jaws part, sharp, jagged teeth go for the throat and close, he is completely unphased by the yelping screams as he bites through fur and flesh and then he shakes his head violently like a puppy play fighting a toy. 

The body flops just as easily, not yet dead, but dying, ripped open and bleeding as crimson stains the pale brown of her coat. He’s nothing of not thorough though, the body panics with a burst of adrenaline, teeth snapping at him that he avoids easily as he tears into the throat once again, ripping and pulling until the string of muscle and torn veins come along the fur and blood that practically mists the air in the spray of red. 

He throws his head back and howls, because the hunt is on, and humans are torn apart, so easily. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A TL;DR of this: Jaejoong is captured, breaks his hand hand to escape and then murders one of his captures with the intention to hunt down the other. There is some reference to child touching.
> 
> Some other things to note, because this is a story about wolves and mates with some romance but also some like darkness and violence to it.
> 
> The italicized thoughts are Lamb's thoughts, obviously. I am not inconsistent with the existence of the wolves, promise.
> 
> The more dominant the wolf, the more vocal and 'present' the wolf is. We don't see much from Junsu and Changmin's wolves who are much more docile. Jaejoong is a rather dominant personality/presence though, and so is Yunho.
> 
> The wolves are animals, beasts. They can communicate with the people they share a conscious with when they're present enough, but everything is simplified, baser instincts. More docile personalities share more of an emotional bond than a sort of verbose one, a surge of fury or worry over a mate/pack, more mood swings less murder cheerleader.
> 
> That said, Jaejoong's wolf is dark, kinda murder hobo-esque. This is why he is basically the assassin/bogey man for the very capable pack that are basically the alphas of all the other alphas instead of them getting their hands dirty themselves. It's mutually beneficial, keeps Jaejoong from shredding his mind to pieces and is efficient. The whole chase, kill, hunt is the reason Jaejoong keeps Lamb on a short leash, and is also a factor into his preference/desire/need to have someone who is able to dominate him and his wolf. It's balance, sexy balance. Is Yunho capable? We'll find out... cus that isn't obvious in a YunJae story where they're tentatively calling themselves mates and all... Ahem.


End file.
